Birth Marks
by Dark Inu Fan
Summary: Kagome has a weird birth mark on her arm that may be connected with her Higurashi history. Kagome, a hanyou? IYxYYH
1. birth mark

Disclaimer: idea: mine, some CD's: mine, Inuyasha: not mine, Girl's Life magazine: not mine  
  
For those who have checked out my other stories: thanks for being there!  
  
Warning: be prepared to use a dictionary and mental spell-check, I like big vocab words and I can't spell anything! Also, anything that is the wrong word in English, blame my spell-checker!  
  
() Author ad-in's Thought ** Action "" Verbal  
  
I have checked, this is mostly a unique idea, but one other person has done some tiny details like this before me and I won't tell you which! Bwa-ha-ha- ha *inhales, gasp, faints from lack of oxygen* well here to the story please don't kill me!!!  
  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
Chapter one: the demon mark Place: the Higurashi shrine back porch  
  
"About time I spent some time relaxing without that stupid dog-boy," Kagome mumbled as she slathered the last of the tanning lotion on her arms. It was spring break and she had insisted that she needed a break from the feudal era as much as from school. The 15-year-old was stretched out on a lawn chair reading Girl's Life, a popular magazine. This time, Inuyasha had really ticked her off. He almost put a tree down the well; again! Good thing he remembered that that didn't work last time, so it wouldn't work this time. Right?  
  
Kagome reached over to grab her lemonade, as she did so, the shikon jewel tinkled a bit. The jewel; that's why she was in this predicament in the first place: the jewel was in her body when mistress centipede pulled Kagome into the well to get the jewel out of her. Then she met Inuyasha and that's how this whole journey started. That stupid jewel, that stupid Kikiyo. This is all her fault in the first place...no, it's Noraku's! Kagome mentally yelled at herself. A slight twinge of pain in her right shoulder made itself present, but Kagome ignored it. She didn't remember hitting it on anything.  
  
"Oi! Kagome! Where are you?" a familiar voice yelled from the well house. Yep, the dog had found its jewel detector.  
  
Kagome rolled her eyes, "I thought I told you that I wanted to be left alone during my vacation Inuyasha!"  
  
The boy grinned and followed the sound of her voice to the back yard porch. He had a bone to pick with this girl and wouldn't leave until he got some answers. He rounded the corner of the house and stopped suddenly. He stared at the beautiful girl in the green bikini.  
  
Kagome looked over her sunglasses at the hanyou. "Inuyasha, you're watering the plants with your drool," she said simply. The boy shook his head to snap himself out and closed his mouth. Inuyasha had never seen her in that little covering before. Wait, yes he had. At times, he had to stop Miroku from watching the girls take baths and had accidentally caught a glimpse at Kagome's naked body. He liked that memory, but thought it was very Miroku- isque.  
  
Kagome's mom looked out the window to see what the noise was about and grinned. It would be soon, very soon when she would be able to tell Kagome the other half of her heritage, aside what she already knew of her miko history. She sighed and fingered the dog-print charm on a necklace that was hidden by her blouse. Inuyasha would make a good mate for her child, but only when she's ready.  
  
"Ka-kagome?" Inuyasha asked love-struck, then regained his composure and reason for coming to this era, "get your clothes on, wench, we're going back home and collecting the shards!"  
  
Kagome 'humph'ed and crossed her arms over her magazine. Gin (Kagome's mom) sighed and turned back to her son's homework that she was checking.  
  
~Inuyasha's POV~  
  
The wench hadn't moved when I ordered her to pack for 'my' era. Whatever she was doing in that little clothing outside was surely less important than collecting jewel shards. But, now that she is dressed like that (or less than dressed) she does look rather hot like that. Especially when she's mad like that. She is just being irritable and stubborn. I looked her up and down, breathing in every detail of her flawless features: her long legs, her raven dark hair, her slightly muscular arms from learning her archery. "What's that?"  
  
Normal POV~  
  
"What's that?" Inuyasha asked as he stepped up besides Kagome, pointing to just below her right shoulder. The mark was bright red and shaped, oddly enough, like a dog's paw print.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome moaned loudly, "you're in my sunlight, MOVE!" Kagome shooed Inuyasha with her hand, but it didn't work. He prodded the mark with one of his claws and was slapped away from Kagome. The 1x2 inch mark was nipped and was now bleeding. She looked down at what was suddenly warm and sticky-wet. Kagome gasped at the mark and tried to stop the bleeding. She had never noticed the mark before and looked up at Inuyasha in horror.  
  
~Kagome's POV~  
  
I had never seen the mark before, and I think I would have. The thing was huge from the angle I was seeing it from. This was somehow Inuyasha's fault. I don't know how, but it was Inuyasha who did this to me. I just knew it! Come to think of it, that area had been hurting slightly lately. And I don't really look at my arms all that much because my school uniform always covered them. Last time I had really looked at my arms was last summer, when I was doing my swimsuit shopping with my friends. That was before I fell down the well and met him...  
  
~Normal POV~  
  
Gin heard the question and kept her head tilted so she could listen to the couples' conversation. Something in the back of her mind was expecting her daughter to fly into the house asking for an explanation of the mark on her shoulder. She stood up and looked outside the window again. My baby is growing up too fast for me she thought and poured some ice tea.  
  
Kagome lifted her finger off the scrape to check if it had stopped bleeding and took her finger off. "Sorry," the hanyou mumbled, still looking at her mark. Kagome pointed her bloodstained finger at Inuyasha, trying to blame him for the mark on her person. Inuyasha bent over and gently licked her finger of blood in a loving way. Kagome was speechless.  
  
"Aww, that's sooo cute!" a female voice came from inside.  
  
Kagome went pale and sunk down into her lawn-chair. "Mom!" she barely squeaked out before covering her eyes with her retracted hand. Inuyasha just looked up to the window in shock that someone had actually seen him being nice to Kagome for once.  
  
Gin stepped outside the door, "Kagome, I need to speak to you. And you may come and listen also, Inuyasha," she said somberly, but still grinning from the position of the cute couple.  
  
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````  
  
Chapter one done, and what will Kagome's mom want to say? Tune in next time when we find out! Please read and review! It's that little periwinkle button on the left of the screen.... Yeah, that one.  
  
Bye for now,  
  
Dark Inu Fan PS you can't guess yet which story, because this whole first chapter is completely mine! Bwa-ha-ha! 


	2. history and the truth

Wow! I love how many reviewed the first chapter! Thank you, thank you, and thank you!  
  
Disclaimer: you all know he's not mine, so stop asking! (But I wish he were!)  
  
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o  
  
Last time: Gin stepped outside the door, "Kagome, I need to speak to you. And you may come and listen also, Inuyasha," she said somberly, but still grinning from the position of the cute couple.  
  
This time: Inuyasha looked down at Kagome and just saw a confused look that reflected his own. She had no idea what her mother was going to say and she naturally took the guilty defense, "but I didn't do anything mom!" Kagome whined.  
  
Gin rolled her eyes and stepped back inside the house, "did I say that you were in trouble, Kagome?" Kagome and Inuyasha followed her into the house. Gin slid back the panel around the dining room to find Ji-chan enjoying his afternoon tea. "Dad, don't you have some chores to do on the other side of the shrine grounds?" Gin asked as solemnly as she could, with a hint of something else, like a hidden meaning, in her voice.  
  
"Dear, I got them all done this morning, don't you remember?" Ji-chan said, sipping some more tea.  
  
Gin took out her pendant and started rubbing it, "Dad, don't you have some unfinished chores on the other side of the shrine?" She said through gritted teeth. He looked at his daughter's necklace, then to his granddaughter's confused face, then his daughter's reddening face.  
  
"Nnnooo...ooohhh, ahem, I remember now," He said with his eyes widening in realization, "Souta! Come help your Ji-chan with some chores, and then we'll get some ice-cream afterwards!" He yelled at his grandson as he sped out the front door with a broom in his hands.  
  
This just confused Kagome further, what would her mother say that she would need Souta and Ji-chan out of the house for the rest of the afternoon for? Gin definitely wanted to minimize the amount of interference from others for whatever she was going to say. Would it be dangerous, or shocking, or just what?  
  
Gin closed the front door after Souta and turned and went upstairs into Kagome's room. The two had no choice but to follow. She motioned for them to sit on the bed, as she looked out the window to see the men in her life reach their destination in the furthest corner of the land. Ji-chan had his grandson chopping firewood for a bonfire later that night. Gin sighed and turned to her daughter, "I will be right back, I have to get something really quick," she explained and left the room to go to the attic.  
  
Uh-oh, I must have really done something this time  
  
Why am I here? This is between Kagome and her mom  
  
Dearly departed husband, this is when I need your strength the most, our girl has grown up and I don't know what to say! A tear slipped from Gin's face as she found the family tree scroll.  
  
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@  
  
Gin stepped back into her daughter's room and handed her the scroll. Kagome grabbed it gingerly and looked down on it with confusion. Why did her mother want the family tree scroll in this talk?  
  
Gin sat down in the desk chair and stared at her daughter, making Kagome scrunch up to try to appear smaller. The only time her mother looked at her like this was when she had accidentally broken Souta's arm in a game of tag. Gin's look was even making Inuyasha nervous. Gin sighed and smiled slightly, "You look more like your father every day. And my baby is growing up too fast for her own good!" she sobbed after stroking her daughter's jawbone. They let Gin regain her composure before continuing.  
  
Gin sighed with the occasional hiccup. "Kagome, do you remember what your heritage is?" she asked.  
  
Kagome rolled her eyes, "the Higurashi family has gone back for over 400 years, when the family scroll was started and kept in the shrine," she motioned to the scroll. "The family has been a family of mikos for almost as long. The start of the family was an orphan and both her parents' dead. We know nothing of her history or whom she is descended from. Just that she was a powerful human as an adult...Mom, what does this have to do with me?" Kagome asked. She just got a glare from her mother. Kagome gulped and continued, "In her later years, she built Higurashi shrine to raise and pass on to her descendants. We keep this shrine upkept and in the family because of tradition and to respect our ancestors." Kagome finished with rolling her eyes. She had recited this about a million times to her mother like her brother was currently. Kagome and Souta agreed that this was a way to torture her and her brother when they misbehaved.  
  
Gin smiled slightly at how well she had memorized her history. "Good enough, Kagome, but that is only half of your heritage and history. That is my side of you, but you have no idea whatsoever of your father's side and I think you are mature enough for you to know. And your body thinks so also, with it uncovering your father's mark after these years."  
  
Kagome's hand went to the paw print on her arm as she looked at her mother. This just gets more confusing by the minute she thought, and what does she mean 'my father's mark,' didn't he die when I was little?   
  
Inuyasha decided to be bold and silently slid his hand around Kagome's and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Kagome squeezed back and didn't let him have his hand back. Whatever her mom was going to say, she had a feeling that Inuyasha should know also.  
  
"Have you ever wondered why your earliest picture was your kindergarten one?" Gin asked straight, but with a little exasperation in her voice. Kagome shook her head no. She was always told that her family had no camera or any use for one until she started school. But as soon as she did, there was at least one picture every other week since then with the excuse "we're making up for lost time," or "your growing up so fast and I don't want to miss a moment!" That was by far the most common.  
  
Gin shed a small tear as she reached into her wallet for a picture that Kagome had never seen before. Gin handed the photo to her daughter. The picture had a small girl, about two or three, playing in a backyard portable pool. The girl had a bathing suit on and it was showing her right shoulder that had a small red paw print on it. The girl had dog-like ears on her head, like Inuyasha's, but was black instead of white. Her hair was raven-black like Kagome's, but had streaks of iridescent green and purple in it. The hair was beautiful on the girl. She was smiling and acting like a normal little girl in the picture.  
  
Kagome looked up to her mother and gave the picture to Inuyasha to further inspect. Does she think that showing me a picture of a girl that I don't even know will explain anything? I'm just more confused than before Kagome thought, frowning slightly. Gin saw this and decided to explain.  
  
"Kagome, you should know who that girl is and who she looks most like. She's from your past. Just think, who is she?" Gin asked softly, looking at Kagome's beautiful human eyes that were just clouded over with confusion. No one ever noticed but Gin, but Kagome's eyes were different than the rest of the family. They had flecks of yellow and hazel in them also, giving them a surreal luminescence.  
  
"I just want to tell you that you're more than just my only girl, but my special little one and no matter what you decide to do with your life, I will be behind you the entire time," Gin smiled and nodded at memories of Kagome's early years of life. The girl was filled with so much innocence, so much carefree spirit. Gin rubbed her neck slightly with the stress of the situation, "I wish your father could have been here when I had to say this!" she mumbled so that Kagome could barely hear her. "The doctors said that the mark on her arm would disappear by the time she entered kindergarten, but they could do nothing about the rest of her looks. They called the mark a hemangeoma. The mark is one of heritage on her father's side. It was a demon mark for the black dog clan. Luckily, when her Ji-chan was younger, he had some powerful miko magic and sealed her powers and demonic appearance into a re-fabricated (re-made) jewel in her side. As long as the jewel was undisturbed, or at least a piece was kept in her body, she would keep her human appearance and be able to attend a normal school with human children," Gin sighed and looked down from her daughter's face.  
  
Kagome was groaning with the story that her mother was telling. What did she care the history of this little girl. Gin took the pendant and chain off her neck and handed it to Kagome. The girl looked up with her all-to- common confused gaze. Gin put the necklace on her daughter's neck, "that girl in the photo was you. You are not a complete human, Kagome." The teenager fainted into her boyfriend and potential mate's arms. This was just a little too much for the girl to take in at once.  
  
Dun-dun-dun, what happens next time? And what is Kagome's reaction? Tune in next time! X-P Dark Inu Fan 


	3. yin and yang: the inuyoukai

Disclaimer: you all know he's not mine, so stop asking! (But here's to wishful thinking!)  
  
Isn't it mean of me to have so many cliffies? I promise not to have so many from now on *crosses fingers behind back*!  
  
Trinn, darkshessyfan, vanillapop, and digitalpotato, thanks for being there and you'd better review me! And you others out there also!  
  
Darksesshyfan: evol is love spelled backwards! *O_'*  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Last time: Gin put the necklace on her daughter's neck, "that girl in the photo was you. You are not a complete human, Kagome." The teenager fainted into her boyfriend and potential mate's arms. This was just a little too much for the girl to take in at once.  
  
Chapter 3: yin and yang: the inu-youkai  
  
"Kagome! Kagome! Oh, baby please wake up! I know this is a lot for you, but please wake up!" Gin called desperately, tapping her daughter's cheek. Kagome's head was in Inuyasha's lap, snuggled up against him. She had his haiori (is that spelled right?) in a death-grip, trying to shut out the bright light and noises.  
  
Inuyasha stroked her raven hair, thinking of the colors that had been in the little girl's hair in the picture. It seems that she had the same length hair in the picture as she did now. Kagome was the last person he'd expect to be hanyou. Especially since her scent and looks were, at least, mostly human. A member of the black dog clan! He had heard things about the clan and it's powerful magics. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were both descendants of the white dog clan and were lords of the western lands.  
  
Inuyasha had never met his father, but had heard that Inutashio (their dad) was a powerful demon and that taking on a human wife was a last hope for an heir to destiny. Sesshomaru inherited the land, but Inuyasha inherited the family destiny, whatever that was.  
  
Kagome moaned and pulled tighter into Inuyasha. "Kagome, you can wake up now, no one is here to hurt you now. You're in your own time," Inuyasha whispered to Kagome.  
  
Kagome fluttered her eyes open slightly to see a wall of red fabric. She looked up to see a concerned Inuyasha holding onto her. "Aaahhh!" she screamed, not expecting to be this close to the hanyou, and promptly rolled off the bed, hitting her head on her table on the way down.  
  
After a few seconds, Kagome sat back up and rubbed the back of her head. "Wha-what happened?" she asked, looking up at the two on either side of her.  
  
"You fell off the bed..."  
  
"You just found out you're a hanyou and fainted," Gin piped up, smiling at the nice summary.  
  
"Oh," Kagome said weakly and leaned against Inuyasha's legs, trying to go back to sleep.  
  
"Not this time, Kagome!" Inuyasha said warningly, moving his legs to wake Kagome back up. She moaned and touched the sore spot on her head again in protest of Inuyasha's moving legs.  
  
"How can I be a hanyou if I look human?" Kagome mumbled, with her eyes still closed. Inuyasha had been wondering the same thing  
  
"You never really listened to stories, did you?" Gin sighed to herself, "your Ji-chan, when he was younger, was quite powerful as a priest. He sealed your complete youkai powers into the shikon jewel so you would appear human. But when the jewel was broken, the miko side of your powers surfaced. And since you've stayed human, it's safe to assume that there is still a shikon shard somewhere in you, keeping your powers at bay. I think that since the demon mark has resurfaced, it will be soon when your hanyou side will surface." Gin hung her head and let a silent tear drip from her nose.  
  
Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other and smiled half-heartedly. Kagome took the picture of herself gently from Inuyasha to look at it. This little girl was just downright cute with her little ears and wet hair, playing in the pool. Just then, an important question crossed her mind: "Mom, what about Souta?" ((Me? be evil and stop here? Naw, two pages is way too short for a chapter))  
  
Gin snapped her head up at the question and grinned slightly at the question. "No, your brother is normal, at least as normal as any human in the Higurashi line. He has a different father, the man you most likely know as who was your father. But not biologically. What happened is that he found out you were hanyou and not his, and left." Kagome settled onto Inuyasha's lap and smiled at the fact of Souta being normal. At least as normal as a boy living in a shrine and having dormant miko powers.  
  
Kagome looked up at her clock that said 1:30. "Shouldn't we have lunch now? It's past noon, and I haven't had anything since 7:00 this morning." Kagome asked, looking at her brother out the window.  
  
Gin let out a riotous laugh that Kagome hadn't heard in a long time. Kagome smiled at her mom's retreating back. "I'll make lunch and call in the boys so you can talk with your boyfriend," Gin said from the doorframe and left. The girl blushed furiously and turned to Inuyasha questioningly.  
  
"Are we... are we really a couple?" she said, taking up her mother's chair. Kagome grabbed her new necklace and looked at it. The pendant looked exactly like her "birth mark" on her arm. Kagome looked down at her body wondering exactly how much of it was a disguise.  
  
"Ahh!" Kagome yelped as she realized that she was still wearing her green bikini. "Inuyasha, why don't you help mom as I get some real clothes on, okay?" Kagome asked, her voice faltering slightly. Inuyasha eyed her up and down again, savoring her mostly bare flesh. Kagome stood up and pointed to the door, "Out! Before I say the S-word!" Inuyasha gulped and sped out the door, slamming it behind him.  
  
Kagome sighed and put her head in her hands. "Who am I?" she asked. "I'm Kagome Higurashi, a miko priestess. And... and a hanyou..." Kagome whispered to herself. She sighed and coughed at the same time before she got up to get dressed.  
  
Inuyasha pressed his hand to the door gently before he went downstairs. He could only guess what she was feeling right now, and it wasn't good. His dog-like ears picked up Kagome's voice inside and resisted the urge to answer her. You're a beautiful human, and a beautiful hanyou. You are mine and I am yours he thought as he walked back downstairs.  
  
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*  
  
"About time you came down Kagome!" Souta said from his place around the table. She sat down next to Inuyasha and across from her mother. She had finally chosen a green tank top and mini Jean-shorts. Inuyasha mentally nodded his approval at her choice of clothes.  
  
Kagome stared down at her bowl of ramen, absently picking at it. The last thing she wanted was to talk to her mom. Then again, it was nice of her to send Ji-chan and Souta out of the house. Kagome smiled slightly as she thought this.  
  
"What's so funny?" Souta asked, looking at Kagome out of the corner of his eye. Something was different with his sister that he could only sense.  
  
"Nothing...just something mom did earlier, that's all," Kagome said absently, returning the glance at her brother.  
  
Ji-chan cleared his throat and the family looked up at him. "Nice necklace you have, Kagome. If I'm correct, it's your fathers," he commented. Kagome nodded slightly and took a bite of noodles.  
  
Souta nodded slightly as he took a sip of his soda. That's it, Kagome's necklace is what is different. She's never worn it before. Okay Souta thought dismissively.  
  
Whew, that was close! The last thing we need is Souta to get suspicious of Kagome's changes. Even if they are subtle for now Ji-chan thought, following his grandson's suit with his tea.  
  
"If your not eating those, can I have them?" Inuyasha asked, lightly grabbing Kagome's bowl. The look in his eyes could have not been described better as hungry puppy-dog. The group chuckled as he grabbed the bowl.  
  
The tension breaker worked and Kagome looked up. She tried to push the events of the day into the back of her mind and smiled. She should try to enjoy her family while she could. The smile ended up being a fake one that fooled everyone except for Gin.  
  
"Kagome, when I'm done here, I need to speak to you," Gin said, winding some noodles onto her chopsticks. Kagome nodded and stood up, taking her table set with her. She had a feeling that she was going to continue their chat from earlier.  
  
"I'm going to be outside when you get done Mom," Kagome said, eyeing Inuyasha's turned ear, "by the tree line by the well house," Kagome whispered so only Inuyasha could hear.  
  
Kagome needed to think. And the throb in her head from the news and from the bump didn't help. She sat down under her favorite tree and closed her eyes. What more did her mom have to say to make things better than they already were... or worse.  
  
"Hey Inuyasha," Kagome said, not even bothering to move her eyelids open.  
  
Inuyasha smiled and sat down next to her. Even if Kagome didn't notice it, her senses were sharpening very slightly every day. She even had an unwavering trace of hanyou blood in her scent now that made it even sweeter. Shippou wouldn't even notice the hint for a while because of his untrained nose.  
  
She leaned in between the tree and Inuyasha and sighed. He stroked her hair gently. Kagome was definitely getting stronger also. That backpack of hers seemed to get heavier every time she came back to feudal Japan.  
  
"Kagome, have you noticed anything different about yourself lately?" Inuyasha pondered.  
  
"Mmm... no, not really. Except for my obvious birth mark, of course. But since I met you, I have been feeling stronger and more certain about myself," Kagome commented, ready for an afternoon nap. Inuyasha nodded and stopped stroking her hair.  
  
"There you are! And in the perfect place for the next part of our discussion!" Gin said, jogging up to the couple. Kagome looked up in the all-too-familiar look.  
  
Gin sat down against the wall of the shrine and looked at them. "Have you ever wondered why only you and Inuyasha can get through the well?" she asked, motioning to the building behind her.  
  
Kagome shrugged as she sat up against the tree. "No, not really,"  
  
Gin sighed to start off her next recitation: "This well is magic in it's components. It only allows two at a time, of opposite races. In this case, human and demon have to enter at the same time. More commonly, hanyou have the easiest and most simple way to use it. Since they, you, have both demon and human blood in the same body. That's why Souta, Shippou and I can't use the well."  
  
Kagome had her mouth open in a silent "oh" of not completely getting the subject, but pretending to anyway.  
  
Gin went silent for a second, thinking of a subject that would interest her daughter more. "Hmm...hey! Have you ever heard the destinies of yin and yang?" she said, looking brightly at her future son-in-law and daughter.  
  
The two were thoroughly stumped. They had heard various stories about the concept, but didn't know why it was related to them now.  
  
"This particular story is passed down on your father's side and he always told it to you when you were little. The story goes like this: There were once five great demon lords of Japan: the white dog, the black dog, the great dragon, the great vixen- I guess she was a great lady-, and the great tiger. The black dog and the white dog were once members of the great dog tribe. There were many colors: gray, red, brown, gold and others," Gin looked up and smiled, this story reminded her of Kagome's father.  
  
"One day, a great prophet came to the pack and pulled aside the black and white dogs –both your ancestors, not your fathers- and spoke to them. "You have a great destiny for your descendants; the power of yin and yang will be strong with them and their line. The light with dark hair and the dark with light hair will join. Both from different ages than the other. And both not complete dogs, either. You will see!" the old woman cackled and disappeared in lights." Gin did jazz hands around her face to simulate the "lights."  
  
Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other, rolling their eyes after a second.  
  
Gin continued: "the two fated for each other will finally join the pack together and unite the lands after the almost eternal split of territories." Gin sighed at the finally of the story and grinned at the look on the teenagers faces. It was priceless!  
  
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////  
  
Is that long enough of a chapter for you guys and girls? I hope so! And look, no cliffhanger!  
  
The details that are "borrowed" ideas are: Kagome being a hanyou her dad being the demon in the family And that's it, now find that story! It's a good one!  
  
=Dark Inu Fan= 


	4. giant salamander

Hmm...what happens when there's a teenager with a computer, almost no homework that week, and wanting minimal human contact (is my immediate family really considered human?)? more than one chapter in a week!  
  
Disclaimer: you all know he's not mine, so stop asking! (But here's to wishful thinking!). Also, Godzilla is not mine either!  
  
(Peanut gallery) "Spoken" thought  
  
Yeah, so... here it goes!  
  
(Don't you love my borders?)  
  
Chapter 4: Demon Salamander  
  
Last time: Gin continued: "the two fated for each other will finally join the pack together and unite the lands after the almost eternal split of territories." Gin sighed at the finally of the story and grinned at the look on the teenagers faces. It was priceless!  
  
This time: "umm... mom...what are you saying?" Kagome asked in an uncertain tone. She was getting even more confused (like she could get more confused!).  
  
Gin smiled. She was enjoying dragging her daughter on like this, and oh! The irony! Gin put on her most serious face; "you are both destined for each other!" the serious look didn't work. Gin got up and left the two to talk to each other.  
  
"Destined"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"What should we say to the others when we get back?" Inuyasha asked, resuming the hair stroking. "They won't sense anything different about you for a while. Should we really tell them, or wait until later?" he was thinking out loud.  
  
"I don't know, but they'll probably notice some differences. After spring break, the school uniform changes to short sleeves. They would definitely notice this red 'beacon' on my arm. When they do, I'll tell them." Kagome answered.  
  
Inuyasha stood up and picked up Kagome bridal-style. "Then lets go now! That's why I came here today in the first place!" Inuyasha yelled over a screaming Kagome and leapt into the well.  
  
"...You jerk! You trickster! YOU BAKA!" Kagome screamed. The rest of the group nodded to each other and sipped their tea. Yep, Inuyasha said he'd get her, and he did. Even with her kicking and screaming. Kagome must have been really pissed for her voice to carry all the way to the village, about a mile away.  
  
Inuyasha unceremoniously dropped Kagome onto the ground. "Thank you," he said, grinning and blocking her way back through the well.  
  
Kagome brushed off her shorts and started walking to the village, there was no way she could get back now.  
  
"Come back here wench!" Inuyasha yelled at her back  
  
"No you idiot!" Kagome yelled over her shoulder.  
  
"Bitch" he mumbled, jogging to catch up to her. (No, not the cuss word, even if he meant it that way, it was just a reference to a female dog)  
  
"Thanks for the compliment!" Kagome pronounced, continuing to walk. Inuyasha was stunned for a second before he caught up with her.  


Well, that one doesn't work anymore. He thought.  
  
The two continued to bicker as the rest of the group caught up to them. "Kagome! I thought that you were staying in your time for the week. What happened?" Miroku asked, eyeing her clothing selection. Sango hit the back of his head with her fist without saying anything. (Sorry, but its tradition in my mind to have Miroku beat up at least once)  
  
"What's that?" Shippou asked, jumping up on Kagome's right arm. His tail was hiding Kagome's mark. "Did Inuyasha finally mark you?" Kagome blushed redder than her mark and gave the kitsune to Sango.  
  
Kagome subconsciously covered the mark with her hand, "I'll tell you tonight, and no, he didn't mark me!" she said, trying to calm down.  
  
"Lets go sometime today!" Inuyasha called from the edge of the woods.  
  
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
They left before I could finish, oh well! I can tell her when she comes back next time. Hopefully the spell wont be broken by the time she comes back Gin thought as she saw Inuyasha jump into the well house.  
  
"Wow! Your father's mark. But, I only thought that demons passed on markings to their lineage." Sango exclaimed. The group was around the campfire, getting ready for bed. And unfortunately, Kagome was stuck with sleeping on the cold, hard forest ground in her shorts and tank top.  
  
She hadn't told them yet that she was a hanyou. In fact, she was still digesting that fact herself. All she had really said was that she inherited the mark from her father's side of the family. And that she had really never really known her biological father.  
  
Shippou was sitting next to Kagome, hoping to sleep in her sleeping bag that she would magically produce out of nowhere. Kagome sighed and tried to smooth the kitsune's fluffy tail. A thing she never really thought about doing, but just did. "Why don't you sleep with Sango tonight. You can keep the evil boogie hentai (pervert, in this case: Miroku) away from her!" Kagome said with fake enthusiasm. Shippou grinned and leapt to Sango's side on the sleeping mat.  
  
Kagome leaned back against the tree trunk and looked up at a relaxed Inu- hanyou in the tree across form her. He looked down to her out of the corner of his eye and turned away from her. "Humph" If she gets cold, I'll grab her and bring her up here he thought before closing his eyes.  
  
With the rest of the group asleep, Inuyasha was feeling the slight vibrations of Kagome shivering on the other side of the camp. It was spring, yes, but the nights were still as cold as winter. Inuyasha woke up and took off his fire-rat haori. He jumped down and wrapped it around Kagome's small frame. He then picked her up, careful not to wake her, and jumped back onto his branch. He then adjusted her on his person and went back to sleep, careful not to let her fall out of the tree. (Ooh...a little OOC? Maybe).  
  
"Inu...yasha?" Kagome asked in her sleep. The hanyou boy froze stiff, thinking that he had awakened the girl. He listened...no, steady breathing and heartbeat told him that.  
  
Heh, must be dreaming of me the boy thought as he pushed her head gently against his chest, letting her use it as a pillow. They slept a mostly peaceful night, except when Kagome moved, or a strong gust of wind shook the tree. She didn't notice any of this.  
  
The pre-dawn reared its ugly head and Inuyasha woke to it to put Kagome back. The last thing he needed was the group to think he was getting soft. He turned back to Kagome as he reached his sleeping tree. Kagome was so beautiful when she was asleep, wrapped in his haori.  
  
Wait a minute! His haori! Inuyasha grabbed it and gently unwound it from Kagome. She whimpered a little as her warmth left.  
  
He put the jacket back on and jumped back onto his branch. He tried to sleep until food would wake him up, as usual.  
  
"Inuyasha" Kagome mumbled again in her sleep, the boy looked down at her. "Ousarwi" (did I spell that right?)  
  
Inuyasha screamed in surprise as he was "pulled" down to the earth 15 feet below the branch he was sitting on. And, unfortunately, he had taken the branch down with him and was now on top of it.  
  
That woke everyone up instantly, and quieted down the local birds for a good minute before becoming even louder than before.  
  
"What happened Inuyasha?", "did you fall out of the tree again?" came the questions of his bleary-eyed friends. The boy spit out the dirt in his mouth, "bleh, Kagome was sleep-talking and she 'sat' me in her dream," Inuyasha growled, staring at the girl that was currently failing at looking innocent.  
  
"Since we're all up, we should make breakfast and get going," Miroku suggested, stretching out from his spot opposite and out of arms reach of the girls.  
  
Kagome looked down at her flip-flop and started picking a grass blade out. I'm the one who usually brings food for breakfast, and since I don't have my pack, I don't have any breakfast for them. Kagome sighed and looked up.  
  
Surprisingly, the housai pulled out a small package of rice balls from his robe and divvied them out. "I always have a package of rice balls, just in case someone I come by needs some food," he explained.  
  
Kagome didn't move when the group grabbed their food. "Lady Kagome, are you not going to eat this morning?" the monk asked, holding one in front of her face. He smiled as she grabbed it and took small bites.  
  
That smile!... hold on, Kagome, what are you thinking about. Your Inuyasha's. AND HE'S A HENTAI! She mentally slapped herself and finished off her food.  
  
The entire process of 'packing up' today was rolling up Sango's reed sleeping mat and blanket and making sure the fire was out. A precaution that Kagome insisted on.  
  
"Where are we going on this hunt?" Sango asked, shouldering her giant boomerang.  
  
"There are rumors of a jewel shard that has found its way to a giant salamander demon and it's demolishing everything. We should see if the rumor is true before Noraku decides to get it himself. It's only a couple of days away and the town there is a good one," Miroku described, heading eastward.  
  
The group followed him through the forest to a well-beaten path. "Oi, monk! Why are we walking when riding would be faster?" Inuyasha asked from the back of the group, following Kagome.  
  
"Do you have any hurry Inuyasha?" Miroku called over his shoulder, not even bothering to stop and look the hanyou in the eye.  
  
"Keh," is all he said in response, looking over to the left of the path. Why don't we just hurry up and go so we can get the shard faster and get Kagome back faster. I know she said that she wanted this week of from everything so se could relax. But her being in her own time too long makes me worried and I am lonely when she is there... wham! Inuyasha face-planted himself into a tree trunk that the others had gone around.  
  
Kagome and the others tried to stop laughing, but it didn't work. "You should watch where you're going and you wouldn't hit yourself!" Shippou called, finally giving in to the funny situation.  
  
The fed-faced hanyou sidestepped the tree and glared at the kitsune. Why you little br..."  
  
"KAGOMEEEE" Shippou screamed, climbing up to her head. Kagome sighed and plucked the kitsune off her head and held him to her chest protectively.  
  
Kagome gave Inuyasha that don't-even-dare-to-touch-him-or-you-will-regret- it-later look and continued to follow the monk and demon-slayer. She's got the look down. Oh, I can't wait until her powers show up! Inuyasha thought, rolling his eyes.  
  
8080808080808080808080808080808080808080808080808080808080808  
  
"Just over this next rise, we're almost there!" the monk called, running to the top of the hill. They had been traveling for three days straight and they were eager to get to their destination. Miroku stopped suddenly at the top and looked down at the seaside village.  
  
The breeze blew then and Inuyasha got a whiff. The town smelled like a regular harbor village, except that there was an overwhelming stench of blood, corpses and burning huts.  
  
Kagome ran to stand beside the housai and gasped. It looked like one of those old Godzilla movies, with the giant lizards ruining all of Tokyo. She had to cover her mouth because her human nose could smell now and she was trying to keep her lunch down.  
  
"Kagome, where is the Shikon shard?" Sango asked, holding her boomerang to strike it from a distance.  
  
"It's... umm... it's in the tail, in the very tip!" Kagome pointed as the salamander used it to demolish another building.  
  
(My fight scenes are bad!) The boys rushed in as Sango threw her boomerang. Kagome stayed on top of the hill with Shippou and aimed her arrow. The kitsune was too young to fight and Kagome didn't have any real fighting ability except for her arrows and miko powers.  
  
Inuyasha pulled out Tetsuaga and slashed at the beast's neck. It howled and one drip of saliva dropped to the left of Miroku and burst into flames, luckily missing the monk.  
  
Sango caught the boomerang and jumped onto a transformed Kirara's back to give air support. Kagome shot her arrow and missed by just inches of its head.  
  
Kagome decided to run in to get a better aim. And help the remainder of the villagers to safety. Kagome ran to the edge of the village and into the nearest hut. Empty. Good.  
  
Kagome was to her fifth hut before she found anyone, "I'm here to help you out and away from the demon," Kagome called to the older woman that had her legs pinned under a timber from the roof.  
  
The woman looked up with an expression of pure terror and agony. "Please, hurry! I need to find my husband! He took my baby and left. I was right behind him when this log fell on me. I told him to run. Please, help me!" the woman called back.  
  
Kagome and Shippou rushed into the burning hut and helped the woman push the log off her legs. "Shippou, help me get her outside! Ma'am, can you use your legs?" Kagome asked, letting the woman lean on her. She nodded mutely and tried to take a step.  
  
"You need to try to use your legs for now, but put your weight on me," Kagome said, slightly frantic. They made way to the door slowly, but surely, with Shippou clearing fire out of the way with his Kitsune-Bi (fox- fire).  
  
They stepped outside the hut and went around the corner towards the edge of the town. Another villager saw the two and took the woman to the rest of the surviving villagers to be treated.  
  
Kagome looked back to see Inuyasha get knocked back by the demon's powerful tail. Then it turned its attention to Kagome and scrabbled towards her. The salamander quickly caught up with Kagome and pinned her under its front- left foot.  
  
Kagome looked up at the yellow eyes grinning back at its next meal. She reached for her bow and arrows that were just out of her reach. "Kagome!" Shippou yelled as he tried to get the demon to let go of Kagome. "Kitsune- bi! Kitsune-bi! Kitsune-bi!"  
  
The salamander shrugged off the attacks like they were annoying flies. Inuyasha was kneeling, using the Tetsuiga as a cane to try to get back up. The salamander glanced at Shippou and used its other front foot to flick him into the air and landing on the other side of the village. He slid down the hut wall he landed against, unconscious.  
  
The great salamander turned its attention back to Kagome after watching the kitsune 'fly' away. "Mmm... another snack for me. How lucky I am today to have such a treat of a woman to eat!" it hissed, bringing its snout closer to Kagome to smell her.  
  
Kagome was terrified beyond thought and no one was able to help her. Miroku and Shippou were unconscious, Sango and Kilala couldn't see anything and were busy with its tail, and if Inuyasha even tried to move, the demon would only knock him back.  
  
The demon dribbled a bit of flaming spit above Kagome and drew it back repeatedly. It was enjoying torturing the weak, pathetic, little human girl. "If you harm one hair on Kagome, You'll regret it!" Inuyasha yelled, taking a swipe at the back legs. The creature laughed and continued.  
  
The only thing Kagome could do now was pray for a miracle. It came in the form of a wave of warmth from the area of her birthmark. It swept around her body like a blanket, covering every inch of her body. Whatever was happening to her impulsed her to put her hands on the demon's body. In this case, its toe.  
  
Kagome did so and the blanket of energy extended to the salamander, burning and dissolving the limb enough so Kagome could sit up and reach her bow.  
  
The creature screamed in pain as it backed up onto its hind legs. Kagome aimed and shot her arrow. It seemed more powerful than what it usually was when shot. The arrow hit its mark on the underbelly and threw it into the air. The giant salamander screamed again even more terribly and dissolved in mid-air.  
  
The jewel fell to the ground and nobody noticed. Kagome was on all fours, trying to catch her breath. The blanket of energy settled into Kagome, and the ethereal purplish glow faded.  
  
Inuyasha was the first to reach her and grabbed her shoulder gently. "Kagome, Kagome, are you all right?" he asked, trying to get a look at her eyes. He could already see a difference with her hair and...her ears. Her ears looked like normal (if you can call it that) Inu-hanyou dog-ears.  
  
Kagome closed her eyes and leaned against Inuyasha, feeling a little calmed down by the hanyou's presence. She caught a smell from close range, drowning out the surrounding smells. It was woody and...and smelled free. She put her face into the haori and breathed deeply. It was oddly calming to her newly renewed senses.  
  
"Kagome-chan! Are you all right?" Sango called, running up to the couple. Kagome nodded, but a red sleeve hid her new features.  
  
"Are you okay now?" Inuyasha asked, helping Kagome up to her feet. But still kept the sleeve covering her head.  
  
"Better now that that salamander is off me," Kagome said, looking up at the boy hanyou.  
  
Good, her eyes didn't change too much, only specks of color. Like her hair. He thought as he let down the sleeve slowly.  
  
Sango gasped as she saw the girl's improved features from the back. Kagome's hair was like the picture's now, but it stayed the same length as before. "Ka-Kagome? Is that you?" Sango asked timidly, reaching for Kagome's shoulder.  
  
Kagome turned around to her friend and smiled, showing two dainty canines by mistake. "Yes, it's me. It's just that a spell on me finally broke and this is what I really look like," Kagome explained, gesturing to her face.  
  
"W-we should wake up Miroku and go now, the demon is gone and the village can rebuild," Sango suggested, going towards the man in black robes in the middle of the street.  
  
"I'll get Shippou," Kagome announced, heading to where the kitsune had 'flown.' "And I'll tell you the rest of the story tonight."  
  
He's asleep. Poor thing, that looked like he was hit hard "Shippou, Shippou, can you hear me? Can you wake up now?" Kagome whispered in the boy's ear. Blood, not good. He hit the wall hard Shippou moved slightly at his name, but stayed asleep. Kagome picked him up and carried him gently, trying not to irritate the back of his head that was cut badly. She walked back to join the others.  
  
===========================  
  
"...Better wake up before we leave you here," Miroku heard a female voice say as Sango's form came into focus.  
  
"Ugh, what happened? Did we win?" Miroku asked as one hand went to his head and the other went to Sango's butt. Her eyes went wide and a hand mark appeared on his face, nearly knocking him unconscious, again.  
  
O00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o  
  
Hey guys! Long enough chapters for you all? I hope so! If anyone can tell me some Japanese phrases and words to use, it would help. Thanks! 


	5. night and thinking

Sorry for not updating on Friday, I had a dance to get ready for and I couldn't sit down long enough to type anything up.  
  
Disclaimer: you all know he's not mine, so stop asking! (But here's to wishful thinking!).  
  
(Peanut gallery) "Spoken" thought :: Inu-language::  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Last time: He's asleep. Poor thing, that looked like he was hit hard "Shippou, Shippou, can you hear me? Can you wake up now?" Kagome whispered in the boy's ear. Blood, not good. He hit the wall hard Shippou moved slightly at his name, but stayed asleep. Kagome picked him up and carried him gently, trying not to irritate the back of his head that was cut badly. She walked back to join the others. "...Better wake up before we leave you here," Miroku heard a female voice say as Sango's form came into focus.  
  
"Ugh, what happened? Did we win?" Miroku asked as one hand went to his head and the other went to Sango's butt. Her eyes went wide and a hand mark appeared on his face, nearly knocking him unconscious, again.  
  
Sango was helping the monk up as Kagome came back to the group holding Shippou. The kitsune stirred, waking up from his induced sleep. "Okaa-san? (Mom)" he mumbled, apparently really out if it. Shippou's nose moved slightly, smelling what was going on before opening his eyes. Who's carrying me? I don't know the smell, it's like Kagome's, but it's not her Shippou thought, opening his eyes a crack to see an unfamiliar angle of a face he felt he knew.  
  
"Shh, shh, Shippou! Calm down! Calm down before you hurt yourself!" the stranger said, trying to hold the kitsune still. The voice was just like Kagome's also.  
  
Shippou struggled out of the stranger's grasp and into Sango's. "Where's Kagome you impostor?" the kitsune yelled at the stranger, tears falling slowly.  
  
Kagome knelt in front of Sango and Shippou with a sympathetic look on her face. "I'm hurt Shippou, please don't call me an impostor. You know that that hurts when you say it. I'm here..."  
  
Your not Kagome!" he yelled even louder, pushing into Sango more.  
  
Inuyasha came over and sat down by the bewildered monk "this should be interesting" is all he mumbled.  
  
"Shippou! Shippou, calm down and listen to me! Why would someone want to impersonate me?" Kagome asked, hoping her psychology would work.  
  
"Be-because... to ge-get rid of us! O-or to sepera-ate us!" Shippou sobbed, wiping his tears on his shirt.  
  
"Shippou, look at me, do I look like a fake? I know that you know me better as a ningen (human), but this is really what I look like," Kagome grabbed Shippou's head in her hands, making him look at her. "I look mostly the same, and smell mostly the same, so I'm the same person, just with a better body" at this, Miroku looked her up and down and nodded slightly. Inuyasha noticed this and growled just audibly enough for Kagome to hear. She fought the urge to show that she had heard him.  
  
Shippou sniffed slightly in Kagome's direction to prove her words true. He looked at her eyes; "did Inuyasha do this to you?" the kit asked innocently enough with big eyes.  
  
Kagome couldn't help but laugh, "no! He couldn't... do any... sealing charms even... if he wanted... to!" Kagome explained between laughs. Shippou looked hurt and insulted when Kagome opened her eyes back up after sobering up as much as she could. "Sorry Shippou, but it was Ji-chan that put a spell on me that made me human," she tried to explain, opening her arms to the kitsune.  
  
He came up to Kagome slowly, sniffing every so often to make sure that she still smelled like Kagome. "I'll tell you all the rest of the story tonight when we set up camp." The girl said, standing up with Shippou in her arms.  
  
"Don't forget the jewel, wench. That's why we came here in the first place" Inuyasha growled, walking off to find a decent camp site for the night...preferably up wind of the town.  
  
"You need to be nicer to me now, you know that Inuyasha," Kagome warned, turning to find the jewel shard and pick it up.  
  
Inuyasha just growled and left. Sango and Miroku stood off to the side and were watching the couple like a tennis match. "I'd say that they fight like cats and dogs, but that's an insult that even I won't stoop that low to say...and by the way, what happened to Kagome?" Miroku asked a bewildered Sango, who just shrugged.  
  
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][]  
  
Kagome stooped to pick up the Shikon shard and purify it. "Miss! Miss! Can I talk to you?" a man yelled from the other side of the road, waving his hand.  
  
Kagome straightened up and smiled at the running man, "what is it sir?" Kagome asked back, letting him catch his breath from running the distance of the whole village.  
  
"I... I just wanted t...to th...thank you f...for saving my wi...wife f...from that burning hut!" he said more to the ground than to Kagome.  
  
She put her hands on his shoulders so he wouldn't fall over. "Catch your breath, then continue. I would like to hear what you have to say and I am not in any hurry," Kagome said in a motherly tone, still managing to hold onto Shippou at the same time.  
  
The villager was still breathing heavily, but managed to bow to his wife's savior. "I want to thank you for saving my wife from the hut earlier. She is doing fine now, but her legs are temporarily harmed too much to thank you herself. She sent me to find you before you left and to give you this: a token of our appreciation and gratitude." He held up a medallion on a silk cord, "If you show this to any inn keeper in this area of Japan, you will get a free night's rest and free meals. This is your gift from the lord of the south-western fishing village." The lord bowed again and left Kagome with a grin on her face.  
  
"Thank you so very, very much!" she called after his retreating form.  
  
"What's that okaa-san?" Shippou asked, touching the medal.  
  
Kagome looked down at the kitsune, wah, did he just call me mommy? She thought before answering. "It's our ticket to comfort on the way back to Kayede's village," Kagome smirked, turning to the direction Inuyasha went.  
  
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}  
  
"Come on, we don't want to lose Inuyasha in the woods, do we?" Kagome laughed towards Sango and Miroku. They were both confused at Kagome's sudden gaiety.  
  
"Umm..." Miroku tried to speak, pointing lightly at the medallion.  
  
"Come on Miroku! You too, Sango!" Kagome called over her shoulder.  
  
All they could do was exchange confused glances and follow the retreating hanyou, bouncing Shippou on her hip. Shippou called me mommy, I guess I am the closest thing that he has for one now. And now I can relate to him easier now, being half demon, I mean... Kagome was just happy about this little fact: I wonder if I can really adopt him now. We treat each other like family enough, why can't we just make it official now?   
  
"Arg! Ahh! That hurts!" Miroku hissed as he tried to step on his left foot tenderly. Sango knelt down and looked through a burnt hole in his lower robes. She then lifted them up just enough to see his left ankle. It was burnt severely and had raw pink flesh showing inside the black scorched hole on the outer side.  
  
"Wah...Kagome! Help me with Miroku, he was burned in the battle and we need to help him walk to camp," Sango called over, putting one arm around her shoulders to support his weight. Kagome turned around from her bouncing game with Shippou and gasped. She saw the hole in his robes and the smoke still pouring from the opening.  
  
Kagome ran back to the couple and grabbed Miroko's other arm like Sango had. "You still have to walk, but this will ease the pain until I can dress it." Kagome looked at her friend's hands trying to move to their intended destination. "And we're keeping your hands in check, and if you even think of trying something, you'll have to walk the whole way by yourself." Kagome warned in a low growl.

  
  
"Did you really mean what you said earlier Shippou?" Kagome asked, sitting the kitsune in her lap after dinner.  
  
They had finally found Inuyasha after an hour of wandering. He had found a pretty decent campsite with a hot spring not even 100 feet away. From the looks of it, he had even made a fire pit already and cleared places for Sango, Shippou, Kilala, and Miroku in their usual places, but not one for Kagome. No one had said anything and was just waiting for Inuyasha to explain himself. It was after dinner and still no explanation. Come to think of it, he had been acting strange about Kagome for the past few days and Kagome had no clue either.  
  
"What are you talking about Kagome-okaa-san?" Shippou looked up at Kagome with his huge eyes in pure innocence.  
  
"That, you're calling me mom. Why?" Kagome asked back just a little annoyed at him being so innocent.  
  
"What do you want me to call you then, Kagome-okaa-san?" the boy responded, blinking several times in confusion.  
  
"It's fine if you call me okaa-san, I just want to know why you want to call me that now," Kagome replied, hugging her adopted "son" and smiling at him. Inuyasha looked down at the two and sighed, remembering how his mother would hold him like that.  
  
If Kagome is mine, and Shippou is hers, then Shippou is mine also. That means I have to be nice to that brat now, don't I? Inuyasha thought, jumping down from the tree and picking Kagome up bridal style.  
  
"What are you doing Inuyasha?" Kagome asked wide-eyed as he jumped back into the tree with the two others. Shippou was still being held tightly in Kagome's arms.  
  
Inuyasha draped the haori and his arms over the hanyou and demon in his lap. "It's getting cold and with what Kagome's wearing, she can get sick in the weather. And as long as you don't move too much, I won't notice you and push you off her." He shrugged and turned his hard face to the two humans looking up at them from the fire.  
  
Kagome leaned back and prompted Shippou to continue. "Well, I... I guess since you decided to take care of me, I kinda got attached to you and I guessed that you love me enough..." Shippou didn't need to continue. Kagome hugged him again and smiled. She was thinking the same thing about Shippou: her son and her, his mother. Of course adopted, but that didn't really matter to them or anyone close to the group.  
  
Inuyasha nodded at the explanation slightly and relaxed into the tree trunk. Fifty years stuck to one and he had started to like the bark feeling on his back.  
  
Miroku looked back to Sango, who was across the fire and out of his wandering arm's reach. "Do you think Lady Kagome will adopt Shippou officially?" he asked in a wondering tone, rubbing his bandages lightly. Kagome had to cut away the burnt flesh that was too "cooked" to repair itself in the healing process and had to put some smelly ointment on to prevent infection. To summarize nicely: Miroku was not the most comfortable monk in the world and he wasn't his most perky self either.  
  
"I hope so, they are great with each other and they act like they need each other by now. It would be a shame if they didn't do the adoption," Sango said distractedly as she was using a brush from Kagome's time to try to brush out some of the salamander blood clots out of her hair. The girls would get a bath first thing in the morning so the night air wouldn't freeze their hair.  
  
"I was actually thinking of doing that already, Miroku!" Kagome called down from her relaxed position, staring into the fire.  
  
"Sorry about that, lady Kagome. I had forgotten that you now have enhanced senses. But I would like to see the ceremony when it happens." He offered, "I could even officiate it!"  
  
Kagome nodded and closed her eyes. It wasn't even dark yet and she was tired. She had never done any close-range fighting before, and breaking a sealing spell took a lot of energy.  
  
"Go ahead and rest, you had a long day," Kagome's ear turned to Inuyasha as he said that.  
  
"Inu-Inuyasha?...... Thank........... you," was all she could say before nodding off to sleep. This is how life should be: her, her mate, and her pup.  
  
(Kagome's dream)  
  
"Kagome? Do you like it?" Inuyasha asked. I looked at his golden eyes and then to the hut that he had build in secret the past month with Shippou's help.  
  
"So this was Shippou's weapon training, huh?" I put my hands on my hips in fake anger. The hanyou shrunk back slightly before nodding slightly. I jumped on him in a gigantic hug, forcing him to the ground on his back. I kissed him and sat back up on his stomach.  
  
"You're getting too dangerous for this!" Inuyasha grinned before pulling her back into another kiss.  
  
"Okaa-san! Otou-san! Are you out there!" a now teenage Shippou came out of the hut. He was dressed like a blue version of his adopted father, only he insisted on always wearing that fur vest that grew with him. Ever since we had adopted him, he had taken on some more Inu-like features: there were streaks of silver in his strawberry-blonde tail and iridescent black in his fiery hair. He was really growing into a handsome youkai and I would always be proud of him  
  
"Yes, Shippou, I was just thanking your father for the house. It's beautiful!" I said, pulling away from the slightly embarrassing position on my mate. Even with the Inu-kitsune less that oblivious to his parent's antics, they were still shy about open affection to each other.  
  
I gave Inuyasha another peck on the cheek and walked inside the hut that still had the sweet sap smell in it. I turned back to the two main men in my life and grinned. This would be a perfect place to raise a family, maybe going beyond Shippou and to a bloodline heir to the Inu-throne.  
  
"It's small for now, but this can get bigger if you want," Inuyasha offered, standing beside Shippou and I.  
  
"Can this get any better?" I asked, leaning my head on my mate's shoulder and sighing. No, it can't I answered myself and closed my eyes.  
  
(End dream)  
  
Mmm... I wonder what she could be thinking of to get her scent so excited a minute ago Inuyasha sniffed lightly and replaced his chin between her ears.  
  
"Inuyasha, can you tell us the rest of what happened?" Sango called up, snapping him out of his light daydream. He growled lightly and hugged Kagome closer. He wasn't the type to interrupt in his rare daydreams.  
  
:: Danger?:: Kagome whimpered, digging her fist into his haori with one hand and holding a drowsy Shippou closer. This surprised Inuyasha slightly.  
  
:: No, male mad at other female:: he turned his attention to the bodies on his lap and replied to the sleeping girl, who relaxed slightly at this. How?...of course, she knows this because of her being hanyou! He realized. He would need to be more careful with his vocabulary in two languages now! But she probably doesn't know what she is saying yet, being raised by her mother he concluded.  
  
"Not now, let Kagome rest for now. And then both of us can tell you what happened," he let them off at that and tried to get to sleep. Him, his Koi, and his soon-to-be-adopted son. Perfect.  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Fluff-o-matic chapter and I'm lovin' it! Please review and see ya next time! (This might not happen for a couple of weeks because of the end of school, moving, and getting free time over the summer!) Domo arigato for reading and bearing with me! Dark Inu Fan


	6. the lover's triangle

Disclaimer: inu no mine, you no sue  
  
Thanks to all those people who have reviewed and read my stories! And thanks  
  
to Inuyasha's Gurrl that gave me the idea of doing this chapter sooner  
  
rather than later. And btw the move was a success and no I will not give out my location except that I am in the u.s.a. Now on to birth marks.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------  
  
Birth marks chapter 6: the lover's triangle  
  
Last time:: No, male mad at other female:: he turned his attention to the  
bodies on his lap and replied to the sleeping girl, who relaxed slightly at  
this. How?...of course, she knows this because of her being hanyou! He  
realized. He would need to be more careful with his vocabulary in two  
languages now! But she probably doesn't know what she is saying yet, being  
raised by her mother he concluded.  
  
"Not now, let Kagome rest for now. And then both of us can tell you what  
happened," he let them off at that and tried to get to sleep. Him, his Koi,  
and his soon-to-be-adopted son. Perfect.  
  
This time: How come in all this time I've known her, this is when I feel  
the safest around her. It's like this feeling of, I don't know, belonging.  
It's like when we're like this, nothing else matters and nothing can go  
wrong. I know now that, how I know...I don't, we can protect each other. She can protect me and I can protect her. I now know why I didn't kill her when we first met, or kill myself for that matter. I just don't know anymore  
Inuyasha thought, trying to nod off to sleep, but he was just thinking too  
hard and trying to keep Kagome balanced was hard enough. But sleep  
eventually overcame him and he slept peacefully the rest of the night  
without falling out of the tree once.  
  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
Kagome looked up and grinned at the sleeping face right above her, he's so  
cute when he's asleep! she then looked down to pull herself out of her  
sleeping bag and looked a little further down than she expected. That woke  
her up!  
  
"Umm...Inuyasha... why am I in a tree?" she asked, clinging to the still  
sleeping hanyou and not meaning to let go anytime soon. Inuyasha squeezed  
his eyes shut to the sun coming through them and turned to yawn, realizing  
too late that he had things in his lap.  
  
Kagome fell out of the tree and onto her butt and started muttering a string  
of words that even Inuyasha thought was harsh. Of course, she was saying  
these things about Inuyasha himself so they stung more than normal. Kagome  
stood up and moved from under the tree branch, taking a soundly sleeping  
Shippou to the camp fire. how can he sleep through this... HOW can the OTHERS sleep through THIS? she thought, gingerly sitting down.  
  
"Well, that was for the other day when you 'sat' me out of the tree to wake  
me back up!" Inuyasha yelled quietly enough not to wake up the humans. He  
had yet to tell Kagome about having her sleep in his Haori the first night  
they got back and wasn't about to.  
  
"What do you mean 'wake me back up'?" Kagome shouted/whispered back. She was mad and that was not good for a certain hanyou in a tree.  
  
"Well, I... uh... I, the...you were cold the first night back and I... was uh..."  
Inuyasha looked around like the next thing he would say would kill him, "and  
IwrappedyouupinmyHaorisoyouwouldn'tgetacold" he whispered so quietly that Kagome had to strain to hear him.  
  
She got one of those misty-eyed looks going and looked up at a sweating  
dog-boy. uh-oh that was the look right before the I'm-going-to-sit-you-into-tomorrow look.  
  
"Inuyasha...that was sooo sweet! Why don't you come down here quietly and I'll give you a little breakfast and then we can talk, okay?" she said just a  
little too sweetly. He was in bigger trouble than he thought.  
  
Kagome stood up and started walking to the edge of the campsite to gather  
some food for breakfast, leaving Shippou behind to sleep by the still-warm  
embers of the previous night's fire. Inuyasha had no choice to follow her.  
They were a good distance away from the others before Kagome said anything. "Sit Inuyasha!" she put her hands on her hips and grinned, making sure that Inuyasha couldn't see her expression. The sitting definitely made her feel better as she continued onto the path to gather berries.  
  
It was quiet, too quiet. The spell shouldn't have lasted that long. Maybe  
her new powers had become more powerful and that made the spell last longer,or maybe she had really hurt him that time. The birds had even stopped  
singing and that was definitely not a good sign.Kagome bent over to pick some berries when she caught a familiar smell coming from behind her. But it was too late; a red and silver blur tackled  
the girl from behind. She did the first thing that she could think of and  
flipped the attacker over her back and left four holes in its shoulder.

"Kagomee!!!" the attacker yelled as it rolled through the bush and into the  
clearing behind it. She knew that voice! It was "Inuyasha? What did you do  
that for?" Kagome asked, stepping through the hole in the bush that the  
flying boy had made.  
  
Inuyasha had finally stopped rolling about 10 feet from the bushes and was  
trying to sit up and STAY up. "What did I do? What did you do that for? That hurt!" And she's a lot stronger than I thought she would be this soon after her transformation!  
  
"You attacked me! I reacted," Kagome stated matter-of-factly in a slightly  
defensive pose with her claws raised.  
  
"You're a lot stronger than I thought," Inuyasha managed to stand up and was rubbing his shoulder where the puncture marks were.  
  
"Really?" Kagome dropped her guard and immediately regretted it. Inuyasha  
tackled her in the mid-section into the back side of what was remaining of  
the bush. She dug her claws into Inuyasha's back to gain leverage to flip  
over his head. She did so and kicked where her claws were previously to give  
him a face full of thorns from the bush.  
  
"Ha ha hehehe!! That was rich! Mutt-face is being beat up by a girl!" A  
voice came from the tree across the clearing. A thin form jumped down from  
its branch where it was hiding and walked into the morning sunlight.  
  
"Kouga?"  
  
"What are you doing here wolf?" Inuyasha stepped in front of Kagome to  
protect her.  
  
"Where's my woman mutt-face? Did you leave her behind for another half- breed wench? Where is Kagome?" Kouga demanded, puffing up his chest to show his so-called superior importance.  
  
"She is not your..."  
  
"I am NOT your woman!" Kagome yelled, stepping out from behind Inuyasha."And I never was your woman! How hard is it to register in your thick skull of yours? And quit calling Inuyasha a mutt. As far as we can tell, we cansay the same thing about you. A 'mutt', as you say, is a mix of the same species, just different breeds. So stop calling him -and me- a mutt!" not  
only was Kagome's face red from anger, but her eyes were flashing red also.  
  
The boys were speechless. Inuyasha held his hand hovering over her shoulder,debating the risk of being flipped again to trying to calm the girl hanyou down. He decided to take a risk, "Kagome?" she flinched hard at Inuyasha's touch "Kagome calm down. You know that he's stupid in the first place,"  
  
"Kagome? Is that really you?" Kouga took a step closer, "what did mutt-face  
do to you!?" he grabbed Kagome's upper arm over the birth mark and pull herout of Inuyasha's grasp. That was a bad idea with her being mad in the first place.  
  
"Don't you DARE touch me!" the birth mark started to glow like when she was pinned by the salamander. Soon, the place started to smoke with the stench of burning flesh. Kouga pulled away his raw hand and stared at it.  
  
"You attacked me!" he yelled, stepping back.  
  
"I was defending myself!" Kagome yelled back, stepping foreword. Why is  
everyone testing me today? she thought, touching the mark that was still  
smoldering."And furthermore, if anyone is to blame for my 'condition' it's my parents.And I do not think that you would stoop so low to insult those that are not here to defend themselves! Leave, Kouga, before I harm you more than just a burned palm," Kagome started glowing at this point to emphasize her words. Inuyasha was even feeling heat coming off her aura. An energy bow formed in her hands along with an arrow. The arrow was pointed at his feet.  
  
"Yip!" Kouga yelled like a scared puppy. There was a two foot deep hole  
where he was previously standing. It was an energy arrow that was formed  
with miko and youkai energy.  
  
Unfortunately, (for Kouga at least) the wolf just didn't get the message of  
an arrow nearly blowing his feet off. So Kagome reloaded her bow. "You  
missed me! You can't even shoot straight!" the wolf just kept on taunting. 

Kagome aimed. "That was a warning shot! You're lucky I think of you as a  
friend rather than an enemy, or you'd be dead!" she formed the arrow to look  
like a real wooden arrow and shot it. It landed in his right leg, directly  
above the Shikon shard.  
  
Kouga looked down and tried to remove the arrow, but just got burned again.  
"You have until the count of ten whether to save your life or to die, and I  
think that you would like to live, so RUN! One..." Kouga looked at Kagome and back to the arrow with a look of pure horror on his face.  
  
"Two..." she's serious about this!  
  
"Three..." Kouga had better run if he values his life!  
  
"Four..." the arrow was starting to lose its form  
  
"Five..." Kouga started to turn and limp away.  
  
"Six..." there was a smoke and even little lick of flame around the hole that  
the arrow made and the mighty Kouga was even starting to whimper.  
  
"Seven..." "You'd better run wolfie boy!" Inuyasha said in a mix of amusement and wonder if Kagome would really follow through it.  
  
"ei-eight..." is Kouga really going to get himself killed, am I going to really kill him!? Kagome started to think hysterically.  
  
"Ni-nine..." Kouga collapsed; the energy arrow was wrapping itself around his  
leg and burning all the skin that it touched away. Kouga was yelled in pain  
as it made its way up his leg.  
  
A single tear slid down Kagome's face. "Jewel shards: come to me" Kouga  
gave one last shriek as the shards flew from their previous owner to Kagome.  
"Ten!" Kagome's energy bow disintegrated as did the energy burning Kouga's legs. He was in a heap at the edge of the clearing breathing heavily.  
Kagome turned away and walked back through the bush, silently calling  
Inuyasha to follow. "consider that a warning: next time all that will be  
left is a pile of ashes for your clan members to find" Kagome looked to the  
sky, not willing to see what condition Kouga was in on fear of not being  
able to look away.  
  
Kagome blinked away the few stubborn tears and started walking. The last  
thing she needed was the last few minutes to be brought up again. "You did  
fine. You did what you needed to do and if only I was that brave to know  
when to stop," Inuyasha tried his best to consolidate his future mate. His  
hand had yet to leave her shoulder and his thumb was now caressing her neck  
from behind.  
  
All Kagome did in response was nod slightly and tilt her head into the  
caress. There was nothing much that he could do except remember his first  
time using his power to try to harm another being.  
  
(Inuyasha's memory)  
  
This was his first time out in the woods by himself. Actually, his father  
was somewhere watching him. His father was always watching him.  
  
"Good Inuyasha, now follow the scent" Inutashio's voice was just loud enough for the eight-year-old boy to hear. He was tracking a deer to eat for his mother and himself. His mother was in their hidden den, recovering from the latest beating that the villagers gave her every time that she went for  
supplies. Inutashio came and decided that Inuyasha was old enough to learn  
to fend for himself. His firstborn had started to learn to hunt when he was  
old enough to run. But Inuyasha was a special case and had to wait.  
  
The young hanyou lost the scent and looked up at where he smelled his father  
last, "daddy, I lost the trail!" Inutashio grinned down at his son.  
  
"Go back to where you smelled it last and use all your senses, not just your  
nose. You have eyes and ears, use them," the father watched as he found the  
scent again.  
  
Sad to say, but the boy would be an orphan soon. This beating was fatal and  
soon her struggle would be in vain. But she had tried her best to prepare  
him for the harsh realities of living like a hanyou: never accepted in either society.  
  
And Inutashio had to fight his family's biggest threat and had a premonition  
that he wouldn't survive.  
  
(End memory)  
  
"Inuyasha? You're mumbling," Kagome said, trying to snap the boy out of his daze.  
  
"Mm?" was all that he could say still remembering the only time that he had  
actually talked to his father before he died.  
  
"you were saying father," Inuyasha looked down at Kagome at the mention of  
him spacing out, "and we're close to camp." Inuyasha promptly removed his  
hand and Kagome whimpered slightly at the cold spot on her neck.  
  
"Ah! There you are! Were you having some fun?" Miroku asked, perking up an eyebrow suggestively.  
  
"Hentai," Sango rolled her eyes and hit him with her boomerang.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------  
  
New house, new rules, new restrictions on all computer activities. From now  
on I won't be able to post as often as I want, and I can barely post at  
that! Hopefully I will be able to continue! dark


	7. races and birthday surprises

Thanks 2 all those invisible reviewers! I suggest The Lucky Ones as a REALLY good story!

Disclaimer: Inu no mine, you no sue  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------  
chapter 7(I think): races and birthday surprises

Last time: "you were saying father," Inuyasha looked down at Kagome at the mention of him spacing out, "and we're close to camp." Inuyasha promptly removed his hand and Kagome whimpered slightly at the cold spot on her neck.  
  
"Ah! There you are! Were you having some fun?" Miroku asked, perking up an eyebrow suggestively.  
  
"Hentai," Sango rolled her eyes and hit him with her boomerang.  
  
This time: Miroku sat back down to his breakfast, rubbing his head. " You should know us better than that by now, Miroku, you know that we don't have a relationship!" Kagome put her hands on her hips and Inuyasha jumped up into "their" tree to apparently grump.  
  
He ruined my chances. Better yet, if they weren't here, I could get further with Kagome. He schemed while in the tree, remembering when they were first starting out on the hunt for the jewel. They were doing it together grudgingly at first, but there was something unique about that human, err, hanyou that was just magnetic. There was nothing that could tear them apart now. Not even Noraku!  
  
It had been almost a year now that he was released from the Gosenboku. And, come to think about it, it was almost her birthday also. Her birthday! Inuyasha fell out of the tree backwards and landed squarely on his butt. "Oh! I, umm, I have some one to see in the next town over a-and I'll see you when you get back to Kayede's!" at that Inuyasha ran off.  
  
He's lying Kagome thought as she ate a berry that she had managed to save from their roughhousing.  
  
"What was that about?" Sango asked, staring the direction that Inuyasha went off to.  
  
"Where did you and Inuyasha go this morning, Kagome-okaa-san?" Shippou asked from his seat by the fire. "Well, Inuyasha and I woke up early this morning and I fell out of the tree..."  
  
"Ouch!" Sango winced at the image and remembering how far up the couple was during the night.  
  
Kagome gave Sango a warning look before she continued, "We had an argument and I left to pick berries and cool down. When Inuyasha followed me, I sat him. When he got back up, he tackled me and I rolled him into the bushes" There was a smirk going around at Kagome's replay.  
  
"...And then the arrow burned him and we left," Kagome had not had the best of times mentally replaying the event of early that morning, but her demon side loved it. "Quite an adventure this morning you had, we should start heading back to Kayede's so we can start listening around for more jewel shard rumors," Miroku tried to stand up and fell back into the dirt wincing. " Then again, this is a lovely view (staring at the backside of Sango standing), I would not mind relaxing for another day," He said, trying to cover up the extreme pain of his ankle.  
  
Sango blushed slightly and stormed off so he couldn't see that she heard and understood the comment. Kagome shook her head at the two, when will they accept that they care for each other, Sango especially. She just takes it like he says it to all the girls. True that he used to at first, but he has reserved himself a lot to just her. When will she see that? Kagome knelt down beside the wounded monk (with her butt practically in his face) and lifted his robes away from his ankle. What, no grope? Either I was right, or he's in more pain than I thought!   
  
"Sango! Can I get an opinion on this?" Kagome called over to the still- blushing slayer. She made the mistake of bending over in the same way as Kagome on the other side of Miroku's legs.  
  
=Rustle=  
  
"wha?"  
  
=Slap=  
  
"Hentai!"  
  
Thought so, just her " what do you think of the wound? I think it looks better, how about you?" Kagome was using all her will not to laugh at herself being right.  
  
"I =slap= think it looks better from earlier also. But he'll need help walking. And NO I will not be the one helping him. =Smack= Kilala (Kirara? She's going to be a girl) will let you ride," Sango stood up to search for the demon cat. Kagome re-bandaged the wound and left the monk to sit by the fire for the morning.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------  
  
With Inuyasha  
  
"her birthday, her birthday! I can't believe that I forgot her birthday!" Inuyasha kept mentally slapping himself as he headed to an old friend of his: Rumiko (yes, the author of the books). She would know what to do for a girl's present. In fact, the demoness was a close friend and past servant of Inutashio.  
  
Rumiko was a bird demon that did many things for the family, and was an especially good seamstress. In fact, Inuyasha's fire-rat Haori was a gift for his tenth birthday many years ago. What is sad is that Inuyasha didn't even remember when his birthday was, just sometime in the spring.  
  
Inuyasha bounded into a hidden cave, not even stopping to adjust his eyesight and almost hitting a wall for it. "I still can't believe...RUMIKO! Rumiko! Where are you? Rumiko! Rumi..."  
  
"just wait a minute! I'll be right out!" an older demoness came around the corner wearing a teal kimono and blue obi that matched her feathers. She had feathers instead of hair and a short beak-like mouth/nose. "Lord Inuyasha? Is that you, or are my eyes deceiving me in my old age?" the bird- woman ran up and hugged the hanyou. Inuyasha grinned and hugged her back  
  
"it's nice to..."  
  
"my! Have you grown into a handsome young man! Is there a reason for this nice visit?" she asked, looking at how the outfit now fit his frame nicely, instead of being way too big for him.  
  
"...See you too. Well, I was hoping..."  
  
"That I would make you something? Oh! Who is she? What's she like? Is she good to you?" Rumiko kept on going. Inuyasha had to admit, she was a bit... bird-brained... at times, but she was good nonetheless. " It's Kagome's birthday next week and I want to get her something special," Inuyasha managed to say in one breath.  
  
Rumiko took a step back and eyed him suspiciously. "Then why didn't you say that earlier? Come in and tell me what colors she likes. And do you want some tea?" the bird rolled her eyes at the boy's frustration and turned back into the cave, "follow me."  
  
Inuyasha sighed and followed, hitting his head on the entrance, "oh, there's a low ceiling," Rumiko mentioned right after he found out that for himself.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------  
  
Kagome  
  
they had been walking all morning (except for Miroku, Sango and Shippou) and there really wasn't much to say, except the usual "are we there yet?" of Shippou.  
  
Kagome had plenty of things to think about. Like why had Inuyasha run off like that? And how strong was she now? When she was human a couple of years ago, she had accidentally broken Souta's right arm roughhousing. He had to have another student write everything for him for 6 weeks! Well, there's only one way to find out! "Race you to the next village Kilala!" and Kagome was off.  
  
"Kagome! This isn't funny! Kilala has riders and besides, your gonna lose anyway!" Sango yelled from holding onto Kilala for dear life and Miroku onto Sango. Kilala had forgotten about her passengers and had taken up the offer.  
  
Kagome looked through the blur of brown and green to see that a white form was parallel to her. Kagome grinned and sped up. She never liked to admit it, in fact she acted like she hated it, but she loved to run. Whenever she could in her time, she would pick the long route to school and run the whole way. In fact, she most of the time beat her friends that took the bus to school, and they were closer!  
  
"Having fun Shippou?" she asked the kitsune wrapped around her neck for dear life. Shippou nodded slightly and hid his face in her hair.  
  
The last thing that Kilala and her riders heard of Kagome was her laughing going the direction of the village that they would stay in for the night.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------  
  
Inuyasha looked up from the hundreds of bolts of fabric suddenly, he thought he heard Kagome's laughter quietly. "Did you hear that?" he asked, turning his ears to see if he could pick the laughter up more.  
  
"Hear what? And what do you think of this color for her?" Rumiko held up a dark blue fluffy bolt.  
  
"Nothing, and that's not her color, " Inuyasha closed his eyes in frustration and immediately saw the forest rushing past and the joy of running going through his mind. It was...Kagome's joy.  
  
"How are you doing Shippou, we're almost there!" yes, it is Kagome that he was seeing through.  
  
"Inu, Inuyasha sweetie? Come back to this time please," Rumiko was now holding a mint green bolt.  
  
"Huh?" Inuyasha said the most intelligent thing then.  
  
"You were slipping into your soul mate's consciousness. If you want to keep this present a secret, you should stay here mentally. So what is she like?" Inuyasha had shaken his head at the green and she was holding a silk lotus pattern in pink.  
  
"She is a black dog hanyou and, apparently, she is running for fun right now," Inuyasha started off, quieting down when he saw the expression on Rumiko's face  
  
"do you actually mean lady Kagome? I know exactly what to get her! Oh this makes this a lot easier! The old dog finally gave up an heir! And so many years after lord Inutashio gave up his half of the bargain! I can't believe that the clans are finally going to join after so long of a separation! She would look great in shades of green and I have just the fabric to use!" she picked up a bolt with orange lotus flowers at the edges and forest green behind it. The green faded to pastel in the middle and it would look beautiful on Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha nodded and wondered what it would look like. She grinned at the boy's approval and went in back to find her sewing needle and thread.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------  
  
Kagome had reached the edge of the village and was taking a cool-down lap too fast for the humans to see. She spotted Kilala at the edge of the forest and jumped from roof to roof to her companions.  
  
"Your speed has certainly increased since the spell was lifted," Miroku observed as he stood on his good leg using Kilala as a brace. "And definitely the power of your arrows have become more controllable from what you told us this morning,"  
  
Kagome nodded and tried to pry the living neck warmer off. "Shippou, I stopped moving and you can let go now. I won't hurt you, just please, please let go! Your going to choke Me." at that, the kitsune let go to reveal four parallel scratches on either side of her neck where he was holding on.  
  
Shippou saw the shallow gashes on Kagome's neck with droplets of blood and jumped to the ground, ashamed at what he had done.  
  
Sango gasped and pointed to her neck, "Kagome, your bleeding!" Kagome wiped off the small amount of blood and looked at Shippou to find him with his forehead on the ground, whimpering for forgiveness. Kagome didn't understand how she knew, but she knew what the whining from the kit was for waiting for punishment for drawing blood.  
  
Kagome wiped the small amount of blood off into a hand towel and grabbed Shippou to hug him. "I know that you think it's your fault, but I was the one that scared you and you had every right to accidentally hurt me. And see," Kagome tilted her head so the kitsune could see her neck, " the scratches are already mostly gone. And I didn't even feel them." Kagome smiled soothingly and detangled Shippou's hair with her fingers to calm him down.  
  
"Should we go into town now and find an inn that will feed us?" Miroku asked the group, ready to do the routine 'dark cloud' excuse for getting a room. Kagome fished around in her pocket for the medallion that the village lord had given her. She grinned and pulled the silver-dollar sized coin out to show to the others.  
  
"I knew that I put it somewhere! I got this from the fishing village lord and he told me that this would get us free room and board on the way home," Kagome gave it to Miroku to look at. The coin had the kanji of the village on one side and the other had the pieces symbol on it.  
  
"I remember you getting that from that man for getting his wife out of the fire," Shippou said, leaning over to look from Sango's shoulder.  
  
Kagome nodded as Sango grabbed the coin to look at it herself. "Yes, since I can't fight very well, I decided to see if I could save any survivors from the burning huts. Luckily, only the village lady was trapped and no one else. She was trapped beneath a timber and we saved her. Then later we got this coin from her husband that we later found out that they were the lord and lady of the village." by this time, Sango had given it back to Kagome and they were at the edge of the village.  
  
Kagome stopped at the edge and held up her hand for the others to stop. If there was one thing that she knew from Inuyasha, it was that humans hated youkai and hanyou just because they were different than regular humans. Kagome took out a cloth and wrapped it around her head like the field girls to hide her ears. "Sango, can you tie this knot for me?" Kagome held up the ends to be tied at the base of her neck instead of on the forehead like the other girls.  
  
"Afraid to show your true self still yet?" Miroku asked as he held Shippou so he wouldn't be in the way of Kagome's arms. Kagome turned to the monk and her eyes flashed with the many different colors they held. "I am going to get us a room and food and I don't want to ruin our good chances by my appearance... yet. As soon as we are settled in the room, this headband is coming off!" It was annoying that her ears were stuck flat and they were cramping as she spoke.  
  
"What about your fangs?" Sango asked, looking over what the villagers would be convinced as a human at first glance.  
  
"I won't talk very muck and when I do, I will be careful not to open my mouth very wide. And no I don't think my eyes will be very noticeable if I keep my head down. And if they do ask about my hair, I'll say that I haven't washed it in a long time and it's dirt from our journey," Kagome said, cutting off any more questions and turning to go into the village and straight to the inn.  
  
Kagome knocked on the door as the others stood behind her. A peek hole opened and a man's voice came from behind it, "who are you and what do you want at this inn?"  
  
Kagome kept her eyes hidden by her bangs and dipped her head in acknowledgment, "sir, my friends and I have been traveling for a long time and we were hoping to receive some lodging for the night and maybe a meal also." I just sounded like Miroku! I have been hanging around him WAY too much! Kagome thought as she watched the man's eyes for an answer.  
  
"What do you have that would have me give you a room?" came the gruff reply to his crinkled eyes. From what she could tell, the man was old and worn.  
  
Kagome held up the coin for him to see. "This was given to us from the lord of the fishing village and he said that this coin can get us room and meal at any inn on this side of Japan." The man thrust a hand out of the peek door for the coin and Kagome dropped it in his palm. The small door shut and they heard a small whispered argument between the man and a woman.  
  
The woman opened the door and smiled at the group. "Please excuse my husband, he is very wary of strangers from out of town. Please come in and get comfortable while I get a room ready for you all. Now how many are you?" the woman was older and dressed in a violet kimono and looked like inn keeping was a good business for them.  
  
Kagome gave a small smile, "the monk, the demon slayer, the kitsune, the fire cat, and me. So that's three that you can set up." the hostess bowed and backed away to fix the room.  
  
The demon slayer and the monk will come in handy and most likely help when I ask. And the cat and kitsune do not seem like much of a threat, but that girl was not telling us something the hostess thought as she found a big enough room and set it up.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------  
  
I will stop there for this time and I hope I didn't end with too much of a cliffy. See you next time and remember to review! 


	8. background and inn rooms

Thanks to all my devoted fans from (I'm guessing) mostly America. I wouldn't have continued or had the will to continue without you all. The reason that I only update about every other week is that only my mom's computer can upload my chapters. And I only see her every other weekend, at least most of the time.  
  
Disclaimer: I would own Inuyasha only if my name was Rumiko.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
chapter 8: backgrounds and inn rooms  
Last time: Inuyasha nodded and wondered what it would look like. She grinned at the boy's approval and went in back to find her sewing needle and thread.  
  
----------  
  
The demon slayer and the monk will come in handy and most likely help when I ask. And the cat and kitsune do not seem like much of a threat, but that girl was not telling us something the hostess thought as she found a big enough room and set it up.  
  
This time: the old man looked up from his seat and stared at Kagome. "Humph, here's your stupid coin back, and don't lose it. From what I can tell, you lot don't have any money and so you try to con a place to stay. Doesn't work for me, but the woman has a soft spot for young girls." he rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the fire.  
  
"Very nice job Kagome, I couldn't have done any better. But you could have chosen a better place to stay, like the lord's house," Miroku whispered just loud enough for Kagome and no one else to hear. Kagome growled slightly back and Miroku chuckled.  
  
They didn't know it, but this inn hadn't had a single guest stay the night in years because of a spirit that haunted the building. Most of the visitors said it was a beautiful woman dressed in a white Shinto wedding dress. The innkeepers called her the white bride. The strange thing is that the ghost only appeared to women saying that she needed witnesses (sorry if that is too American) to attend her wedding because her own family never showed up.  
  
The old woman appeared from the hallway. "Your room is ready dear ones and if you have any needs, we are in back upstairs. Please follow me," the group practically moved like one unit to follow the old woman. "Sir monk and young kitsune will be staying in this room while you lovely girls will be staying in this room if you do not mind. There is a door between the rooms so you do not have to be separated from each other if you do not want to. Have a pleasant stay and I will call you down to the main room for dinner tonight. You may come and go as you please, but be in your rooms by dark. Goodnight!" the old woman left the group to their business for the night.  
  
White bride, I hope that you will finally get married and go on to you afterlife the old woman prayed as she sat down next to her husband and followed his stare into the fire. "Do you think they will?"  
  
"I hope so, I certainly hope so"  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Inuyasha  
  
"What have you been up to since you were unsealed from that tree. I heard that you are traveling with the reincarnation of Kikou that wears strange clothes, a monk, a kitsune, and a demon slayer. That sounds exciting! What are they like?" Rumiko asked, looking over the cut pieces of a feminine version of Inuyasha's fire-rat Haori.  
  
"The reincarnation of Kikou is Kagome and she is from 500 years in the future and that's why her clothes are so strange..."  
  
"It's good that you are getting her a proper, at least decent, set of clothes then!" Rumiko interrupted, grabbing some green thread and cutting it with her beak.  
  
(Read slowly)"She is from 500 years in the future and comes through an old well that is in my forest. She is the only person that has ever made me think for more than just myself. She has opened my eyes to the fact that there are people out there that can like me for who I am and not just some freak to be shunned by both races that I, we, belong to. Keh, I can even say that we are a race of two. We can comfort each other and protect each other." Inuyasha sighed just then. When he can get Rumiko to shut up, she was a pretty good listener and always knew how to make it feel better. (Wow! Wasn't that just a waterfall of unsaid emotion!)  
  
"I know it is hard for you two. But you are right about being there for each other. Yin and yang is how the philosophers put it, I think. Both the same, yet complete opposites," Rumiko held up the piece that she had just finished sewing. "Take the green in this fabric. It is forest green to pastel green. Mostly white to mostly black, but it is still green. You are mostly white and she is mostly black, but you are both Inu-hanyou."  
  
She grabbed Inuyasha's chin to look straight into his eyes. "You should not be ashamed for what you are, you should be ashamed for being ashamed!" Inuyasha grinned at this revelation; he had missed her words. Whenever he felt sad and, at times, suicidal, she would come and talk to him and make him feel so much better than talking to anyone else that he knew.  
  
Rumiko held up the mostly finished top with no sleeves, "what do you think dear?" the orange lotus flowers were at the collar and hem with the pastel green cutting to accent her form. Inuyasha didn't know much about clothes, but he trusted her to make the top look good. She grinned at Inuyasha's drool and grabbed a sleeve that she had already sewn together. The lotus was at the edge with the pastel at the top.  
  
"It seems that you like what it looks like so far. Go pick out a green bolt to match the top. And what are your other companions like?" Rumiko was trying to keep the boy busy so his mind didn't wonder.  
  
"The monk's name is Miroku and he has a thing for the demon-slayer girl named Sango. He gropes her constantly and she hits him back with her giant boomerang bone. I think it may just be a way of building up resistance to physical attacks. There are better ways to build up resistance, but he insists on doing it that way." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.  
  
"Do you think they like each other?" Rumiko asked as she started on the second sleeve.  
  
Inuyasha shrugged and continued, "He is after Noraku also because Noraku cursed every male in his family to have a wind tunnel in their right hand that will eventually destroy the cursed male. The curse was originally started when his grandfather tried to destroy Noraku. And now Miroku has to kill him to lift the curse. At least that is his excuse to grope Sango and ask every woman he meets to bear his child." it was Rumiko's turn to roll her eyes. Inuyasha held up a dark green bolt that was slightly duller than the top, "what about this color?" Rumiko nodded and he put the bolt beside her chair.  
  
"That sounds like an important mission for him. Now, tell me about this Sango girl that Miroku hits on," she grinned and readjusted the sewing on her lap.  
  
"She came from the slayer's village and Noraku killed her entire village and family except for her little brother. He is currently under Noraku's control and tries to kill his sister. So she joined us after Miroku and has her own reason to kill Noraku: revenge." now that he thought about it, most of the people in one way or another wanted to kill Noraku because of what he did to them in the first place.  
  
"Oh, I am so sorry for her and I hope that she gets her brother back well. Aren't there two demons in your group also? How did they come into the picture?" Rumiko prompted Inuyasha to continue.  
  
"There is a kitsune pup that Kagome adopted when we first started. The thunder brothers killed both of his parents and we helped him take out his revenge. Then there is a fire cat that is considered Sango's pet. I don't really know much about her except that her name is Kilala and she can fly in her large form."  
  
Inuyasha brushed off the two demons as unimportant and continued to talk about all the adventures that they had had over the past year.  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kagome  
  
"That feels so much better!" Kagome sighed after taking off her head wrap and rubbing her cramped ears. The whole group was in the girl's room and expecting Kagome to finally explain why she became a hanyou.  
  
"So?" Sango prompted.  
  
"'So' what?" Kagome asked back, leaning against a wall  
  
"So...how did you become a hanyou?" Sango furled her eyebrows and Kagome grinned.  
  
This is gonna be fun "well, when a human mommy and a demon daddy get together..." Kagome did shadow puppets with her hands, one a dog and the other a human.  
  
"You know that's not what I meant!" Sango screeched, her face beet red and her hands covering Shippou's ears.  
  
Kagome couldn't help but grin evilly, "I know. What you meant to say was 'I thought that you were a human, how long were you holding out on telling me you were a hanyou?' right?" Sango nodded stupidly and uncovered Shippou's ears.  
  
"The truth is that I didn't know until I went back to my era this time and my mother told me. Apparently when my Ji-chan was younger, he had some actual powers and he put a spell on me that made me appear human. I think this happened when I was about 5 or something because when I went to school, my pictures had me looking human. The thing is that it was the Shikon jewel that was the tie that kept the spell in place. And when the jewel was removed and shattered, the spell weakened and it took this past year to completely dissolve," Kagome tried to explain. The others just looked at her like she was crazy.  
  
"I have heard of such a spell, but I also heard that it takes so much power to cast that the caster loses all power for the rest of their lives. And also the person loses all of their memories of the time before. That was a dangerous spell for your grandfather to cast," Miroku supplied the information to try to make sense of the story.  
  
Kagome nodded, "its true, I have no memory of before and the closest thing to having powers he has is still being alive!" she smiled at that, he would be reaching his 90s soon if she was not mistaken.  
  
"Don't spells need reinforced every once in a while?" Sango asked, polishing her giant boomerang.  
  
"I think so, especially how long it lasted on me, when I started coming to this era, mom asked me to come back at least once a month to get missed homework. But I guess since grandpa dragged me to one of the shrines on our property every time I came back, that could have been the times that he reinforced the spell. I have been trying to skip the 'sessions' ever since I could remember because it always left me feeling weak afterwards. I remember that I once skipped a session by playing hide and seek with Souta and when I finally caught up with him, I accidentally broke his arm because we were play-fighting," Kagome cringed at that memory. That was one of the few times that Gin had been mad at Kagome. "And I still ended up helping Ji- chan with the shrine the next day."  
  
There was a knock on Miroku's door, followed by the voice of the old man, "Oi, sir monk! My wife has asked me to ask you if you would like to come with me to town for some entertainment. You seemed like you needed to relax after your journey," came the invitation. Miroku stood up, briefly grazing Sango's butt on the way, and opened his room door.  
  
"Sir, I would be honored to come with you as song as it does not go against my moral code. This is a very kind gesture for a host of your stature," Miroku said smoothly, "but, I do have one concern. As you see here, I have recently injured my leg and cannot walk very well because of it. It depends completely on how far the destination is to see if I can accompany you."  
  
"What morals is he talking about? I didn't think he had any morals," Sango whispered to Kagome while the 'men' talked.  
  
"We are only going in town for a show and then having a jug of sake hosted by the local geishas (FYI, a geisha is a Japanese version of a prostitute that, sorry guys, will offer any entertainment except from the body. You get my drift). As far as I can tell, that has nothing against the morals that you have. As far as getting to town, I can offer you one of my horses to ride so your ankle will not be stressed further." He offered, leading Miroku out into the hallway.  
  
Kagome got a sly gleam in her eye and ran after the host, "excuse me sir, but can I have a word with you before you leave?" Kagome stared at Miroku, "in private, please." Miroku bowed his head and left to wait in the front room. "Sir, Miroku is meant as a bit of a lecher around our companions and I, and I was wondering if you could get him back for us..." Kagome whispered her plan to the hose and he got wide-eyed. No one was that twisted as far as he knew that stayed alive long. "...And here, use this to get the sake free. It's on me," Kagome grinned and gave him the coin that she used to get a free room with the couple.  
  
Kagome sat down next to Sango and closed her eyes, hoping that her plan would work out. "What was that for?" Sango looked at her grinning friend out of the corner of eye.  
  
"What was what?" Kagome asked innocently, keeping her eyes closed.  
  
"You know what! What did you say out there that has you so smug?" Sango was getting frustrated at her friend's calmness.  
  
"Oh! That what! I just was making sure Miroku would have a memorable time with the host tonight, that's all," Sango could almost see Kagome's devil horns tilting her angel's halo. (Not literally, you idiots)  
  
Kagome looked over at the young kitsune as he let out a yawn as big as his head. "Someone's ready for a nap, I'll roll out a futon for you, Shippou," Kagome suggested, grinning towards Sango. The girls knew what Shippou's nap time meant.  
  
As soon as Shippou's eyes closed, the girls sneaked out. Leaving Kirara to watch the sleeping boy. "Boys night out, kid's sleeping and we're in town, what does that mean?" they grinned, "BATH TIME!!!" both girls yelled in unison. The birds left the trees after their outburst. But surprisingly, Shippou only turned onto his back and snorted.  
  
The hostess came out of her room like she was on fire, "what is all the commotion out there?" she demanded of the girls, wiping her hands on her apron.  
  
The girls blushed shamefully as Kagome answered, "we thought that since we have free time because the others are busy, we would check out the bath house and see if it is any good. Would you like to come with us?" Kagome offered, smiling nicely.  
  
The hostess smiled kindly and glanced at Kagome's ears for a second. Kagome's color drained as she followed her eyes. "Don't worry, dear, I don't mind you being hanyou. Unlike many of people I know, I don't discriminate human from demon. No thank you for your offer, I'm currently busy in the kitchen and thank you for telling me where you are going. Just be careful in town, okay?" she smiled sweetly and went back into the kitchen.  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Miroku  
  
"Girl! Come over here and serve this kind monk some more sake! He deserves it for all the wondrous adventures that he has been telling me. And maybe it will loosen up his tongue some more!" the host crowed, clearly having too much to drink already. He then pulled the closest geisha over to whisper something in her ear. He held up a yen for the prepayment of the task that he had asked.  
  
The young girl's eyes grew large with laughter. Surely this man has had too much to drink this afternoon and he is not completely right in the head. But I wanted to do this to the monk since he walked in. the robes hide so much of his body form and I was wondering...BUNS AWAY! She nodded and casually walked over to Miroku to fill his cup. On her way past, she gave his butt a squeeze...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Inuyasha  
  
"You should really get some sleep tonight, dear. Don't worry, I will have the clothes finished by tomorrow afternoon at the latest and I want to surprise you at what it looks like. You can go into that room to sleep. Goodnight Inuyasha and sleep well," Rumiko smiled sweetly with her beak- like mouth as the boy went into one of the smaller caves to sleep. The top was done and she was currently working on the pants.  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's up and hello! First question: what should Miroku's reaction be? You are the ones who pick the reaction. And whether I use it in the story or not, I will post all suggestions! Thank you Erica for your sick and twisted mind! If you did not get it already, You are the young geisha! Thanks to all that help me with his reaction! Dark


	9. bath time!

Wow I can say that people really like my stuff when I have over 100 reviews! And do you all want a chocolate kiss or a real one? And to make good my promise, here are all of your ideas for Miroku's reaction:   
  
Inuyasha's Gurrl= Lets say the girls nails are sharp. When she squeezes Miroku's butt, she cuts him. He jumps and yowls with pain (imagine a cat after been squieted brutally with a hose :D) and he can't sit on his butt for the rest of the night. AND , for a bonus, when he tells Sango and Kagome about what happened, he swears that he will never grope another girl again! They laugh even harder. Then, five minutes later, he gropes Sango. Sango hits him with her boomerang and says something like " Some people never change," or " Once a perv, always a perv,"  
  
Dragon Man 180= Have Mirouku jump up and scream while he freaks out because a girl groped him! Then have him run out of the building and leave a Miroku shaped hole in the wall!  
  
Fluff-O-Matic= i think u should have miroku like all of a sudden snap out of it and slapp heer. hehehe  
  
Kitsune Kinu= Miroku should be torn between being pleased because someone touched his butt and disgusted because it wasn't Sango. =P  
  
Number1DogDemon= I think Miroku should go into shock possibly run back to Sango or maybe slap the geisha and yell "hentai" just like Sango lol  
  
Silver-Tiger Hanyou =i think that he should think that it was Sango  
  
but when he turns around gets the surprise of a lifetime  
  
Please excuse the misspelling of the reviews because all I really did was cut & paste. And now on to chapter 9!!!

* * *

Chapter 9: bath time!  
  
Last time: The young girl's eyes grew large with laughter. Surely this man has had too much to drink this afternoon and he is not completely right in the head. But I wanted to do this to the monk since he walked in. the robes hide so much of his body form and I was wondering... BUNS AWAY! She nodded and casually walked over to Miroku to fill his cup. On her way past, she gave his butt a squeeze.  
  
The young monk stood up with his eyes looking like Totosai's. And in the process, knocked over his sake cup all over the young girl. What happened? Did she? Oh Kami-sama help me! He thought, giving a polite bow to the inn host. "I believe that it is time for me to go back to the inn and get ready for dinner, I will meet you when you get back." He turned to the girl, who was trying to pat the sake of her ruined kimono, "I am sorry for your kimono and thank you for serving us this afternoon." Miroku bowed his way out and limped to the inn.  
  
She did! She did! She did! Oh Kami-sama! How cruel you are to me, your humble servant! I shall never grope another woman in my life if that is the lesson that you intended to teach me. Miroku sighed; oh what would he tell the fair lady Sango? That he was unfairly taken advantage to? Or that he will forever remain faithful to her in comparison to the most beautiful geisha? Oh, what to say!  
  
Miroku walked the entire way back to the inn lost in thought, completely ignoring the two female companions of his going the opposite way to the bathhouse.  
  
"I hope no one notices that I have no ears at the side of my face!" Kagome whispered as she tugged at the headband that hid all of her 'abnormalities' from the seeing public.  
  
"You'll be fine, no one is even paying attention to us, we're just another face in the crowd going to take a bath. This is a huge town and it is highly doubtful that anyone is paying attention to us," Sango whispered before squeezing her friend's arm for reassurance.  
  
Kagome smiled hesitantly before she noticed a familiar black-and-purple robe. "Looks like my plan worked, I'll tell you when we get into the bath. And I think that our dear Miroku has learned his lesson for the day," she gave a light laugh before turning into the, luckily, empty bathhouse.  
  
Sango gave a confused look and followed the hanyou in. "Kagome, what did you do to him? He looked so worried!"  
  
"It's not what I did to him, its what a geisha did to him after our host asked her to. The reverse roll of what he usually does should give him a reality shock," Kagome said over her shoulder as she grabbed a towel and went into the spring room with a similarly clad Sango.  
  
"Why don't you go in first, you weren't able to bathe in the spring this morning with me and you can tell me how the water is," Sango urged.  
  
"No, you first. I don't trust my sense of tolerance when it comes to hot springs; I can now tolerate heat much more than you and you could get burned. So you go first," Kagome insisted, nudging Sango in.  
  
Sango settled down and welcomed Kagome in, "the water's great and at least we have no peeping Miroku to watch us, so we can finally relax!" Sango sighed.  
  
Kagome didn't want to be rude, but even as a human, she could smell dried blood and with her demon senses, it was just 100x worse. And getting Sango to soak her hair longer in the water lessened the smell. Just think, Inuyasha has to go through this every time after a messy battle. The smells! Kagome sighed, sinking down into the mineral spring water. I'll have to tell her sometime, or I'll have to deal with it all night! How does Inuyasha stand all this? Oh yeah, my shampoo and soap! That should get rid of the smell, at least mask it enough. Too bad it is in my time, because I really need it now. "Ugh...Sango? I'll help you wash your hair. There is some shampoo in the dressing room and I'll get it for you," Kagome scrambled out and into the dressing room, grabbing the primitive shampoo and some lavender scented soap. She was going to make her hair shine with how much she was going to scrub it.  
  
"Here, you can use the soap while I work on your hair," Kagome handed the wet girl the soap and a hand towel and sat down on the planks surrounding the hot spring. Sango waded over to Kagome's waiting hands and started on the scrubbing.  
  
"Sorry if I seem a bit harsh, but I now see a down side to being part demon!" Kagome laughed lightly, "it's the nose! I don't know how he can deal with the smell of blood after a battle. I'm sorry, but hair seems to cling to smells for days. I know that you brushed out most of it last night, but I can still smell it on you."  
  
"At least I tried, right? I'm sorry if you don't like the smell, but I can't smell it so I don't even know if my hair smells or not," Sango replied, scrubbing hard with the towel.  
  
Silence for five complete minutes while Kagome worked through Sango's hair. Finally, the younger girl spoke up, "I thought he would have run away before the ten-count. And I was just mad that he had insulted me. I guess that I let myself get away with my emotions." Kagome sighed and continued to mentally beat herself up.  
  
"Don't worry, Kagome, Koga was always thick headed. Kind of like that boy that you told be about from your time. What was his name? Oh-no or something like that (sorry, couldn't resist)." Sango asked, wading to the other side of the spring and rinsing out her hair.  
  
Kagome couldn't help but crack a small smile, "his name is Hojo, not oh-no. and they do seem to be the same amount of thick-headedness. Even when I am supposedly sick from school, he still tries to go on dates with me. And he also brings herbal 'cures' for my 'diseases' when I am gone. They all go to Ji-chan because they are all diseases that he has anyway, but all of my school friends think that I'm on my deathbed every week. And don't even get me started on my grades."  
  
Sango tuned Kagome out after the first ten minutes and sunk down into the spring. All she really heard was "blurb gurgle blurb bleh" because her ears were under water. Plenty of people think that Kagome is this shy girl, but when she is comfortable with another girl, she won't shut up! And Inuyasha wonders why they were always late? She'll be winding down in 5... 4... 3... 2...  
  
"Thanks for listening Sango, its good to know that I can trust someone with listening to me and not be a critic," Kagome sighed into the water so all that came up were bubbles.  
  
Sango looked to the skylight that let the steam out and saw that it was nearing dusk. "We should start heading back, I think dinner's almost ready and I don't want to miss it," Sango commented like it was the weather (kinda was, and it was a beautiful clear night).  
  
Kagome nodded and tossed Sango a dry towel. "Yeah, I don't think I can stand rice again. I promise that I will definitely bring some good food back when I go back and bring my bag. What do you want?" Kagome braided her hair so it would set in a loose wave for the next day (something I do frequently, but I don't think Kagome does it in the show)  
  
"I don't really know, Miroku likes the canned tea, Shippou likes the chocolate, Inuyasha likes ramen and chips of potato, and I would probably go for those lunches that your mother makes. Those cal-e-forn-ya rolls are good. And what are you doing to your hair?" Sango motioned to the braid.  
  
"This? Oh, my friend Ayumi (is that the one with curly hair) taught me how to do this last time we had a sleep over. That was about 2 years ago now that I think about it. She said that is how she gets curls every day for school. She's smart and has good ideas with hair. Strange, I haven't even really talked to them the past year and I don't even miss them," Kagome and Sango headed out the door into the chilly night air.

* * *

The dinner had been great since the hostess had not been able to cook for anyone except for her husband in years. There was fried rice, large fish, and even some vegetables that had been picked earlier that day from the inn's garden. (I'm hungry now!) The group had joined the host and hostess and soon afterward left to their rooms to talk about their afternoon.  
  
"Lovely ladies, did you spend this entire time in your room? Or did you get out an explore what this town has to offer?" Miroku asked as innocently as a lecher could.  
  
Kagome tried to hide a grin behind her hand before answering with another question. "All we did was go to a bath house, what did you do with the host today, anything we would eventually find out if you didn't spill now?" She could swear that Miroku turned green at the thought.  
  
"I had a wonderful time with the host until we went to the tea house and then one of the geishas, I think, got a little drunk and, umm, ah, groped me," Miroku hung his head as his voice got progressively quieter with each word.  
  
It worked, it worked, it worked! Kagome barely controlled her laughter after hearing the monk's confession. Sango, with normal human hearing, hadn't heard her boyfriend's confession. And she was sitting right next to him (just barely out of hand range).  
  
"I don't think she heard you, houshi," Kagome said with a grin.  
  
"My dear, dear Sango, dear, one of the, umm, geishas, umm, groped me," he said, not much louder than before, but Sango barely caught it, "and I now know what you feel when you are groped and I am really, really sorryandIpromisetonevergropeyouagainbecauseInowknowwhyyoudon'tlikemetodoitin thefirstplaceandIonlydiditbecauseIloveyou!" Miroku spit out on one breath, gaining his courage back enough to yell out the last three words so the whole town could hear.  
  
(For those who really can't understand Miroku's one word, here is the translation: sorry and I promise to never grope you again because I now know why you don't like me to do it in the first place and I only did it because I love you!" and man, is that an expected twist in plot or what!?!)  
  
Both Sango and Kagome's jaw dropped at this revelation. "Did he just?" Kagome started off.  
  
"I think he did?" Sango replied, hand poised, waiting for her owner to do the inevitable to respond to the monk's normal actions. She dropped her hand and ignored her and the monk's slow gravitation toward each other.  
  
5 minutes later  
  
After an extended amount of time, Kagome's mouth started getting aired out with her gaping at the couple. "Umm, that was interesting. Well now with that confession out of the way, we can go to bed now," Kagome said, after remembering to close her mouth.  
  
=Rustle=  
  
=Slap=  
  
"I'm so sorry, I thought I saw a spider!"  
  
"Nice try monk. Just face it, you'll never change," Sango rolled her eyes and sat down beside Kagome, "once a perv, always a perv," She whispered to her best friend.  
  
Miroku sighed and stood up, "I will take up on lady Kagome's suggestion and will retire for the night, goodnight ladies," and with that, he slid shut the shoji screen between the rooms.  
  
"Shippou, why don't you go to bed also. And make sure Miroku-kun doesn't try to pull anything, or grab in this case, while we are asleep," Kagome gave a friendly wink, "and if you get lonely, you can come and sleep with me, segare (my son), I'll see you tomorrow." Kagome and Shippou hugged and he left to keep a watch on the monk.  
  
"Kilala, you guard the door also," Sango sent the cat to the other side of the room and laid down on her futon.  
  
"Night Kagome, goodnight Miroku, sleep well Shippou, and stay safe Kilala," Sango said, closing her eyes to go to sleep thinking about her 'holy' lover.  
  
"'Till the morrow we wake, everyone," Miroku called through the screens.  
  
"Tomorrow!" Kagome responded in a yawn.

* * *

I promise that the ghost shows up next chapter and I feel that it needs its own chapter(s). I know the ending of this chapter is corny, but all the excuse is is that it's late at night and I'm extremely lazy. (And that's also why this chapter is coming in 4 days after it was finished.) I love you guy's reviews and I hope this chapter satisfies everyone. Goodnight, Dark. 


	10. the ghost bride

Wow! This is my tenth chapter and I never thought that I'd get this far with any of my stories. And in the back of my mind, I wanted to see him run through the wall also, but it didn't go with the whole flow. And he has a hurt ankle and I don't think he could have gotten up enough momentum. How about this: if anyone can run through his or her own bedroom wall, I'll go back and put it in. otherwise, it's not happening. But I might put it later, but that is an extreme maybe. Now on to chapter 10! 

NNNOOOO!!!!! my old thought marker was deleted, so this is my new one if it works: ##

* * *

Chapter 10: the ghost bride

Last time: "My dear, dear Sango, dear, one of the, umm, geishas, umm, groped me," he said, not much louder than before, but Sango barely caught it, "and I now know what you feel when you are groped and I am really, really sorryandIpromisetonevergropeyouagainbecauseInowknowwhyyoudon'tlikemetodoitinthefirstplaceandIonlydiditbecauseIloveyou!" Miroku spit out on one breath, gaining his courage back enough to yell out the last three words so the whole town could hear

This time: everyone was asleep when Kagome's ears caught a person whispering to Sango. Kagome cracked an eye and saw a fuzzy outline of a person trying to wake Sango up. "Miroku, go away. Its late at night and whatever you have to say can wait until the morning," Kagome said quietly, turning to get a better view of the supposed monk.

The figure turned to Kagome; "you... you can see me?" came a distinctly female voice. Kagome opened both of her eyes wide as the young girl came into focus. She had Shinto-wedding robes on and seemed to be floating off the ground.

Kagome nodded her head slightly and had to swallow a scream. "Wh... who are you. And what are you doing here?" she barely managed to get out. The glowing figure kneeled down besides Kagome's futon and put her hands in a pleading position.

"Please can you help me, I don't want to get married. I want to go to a strange man's house and be his wife. I want to just go home!" she started wailing and woke up Sango.

Kagome tried to calm the quivering girl, "shh, shh, I'll help you. Just don't wake up my friends because they need to sleep." The girl gave a small smile and started to say something.

"Kagome, what's the matter. Why are you crying, cause you woke me up," Sango asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

"I... I was... just... thinking about my friends in my time and I realized that I really couldn't talk to them anymore. Don't worry about me and go back to sleep. I'll talk to you in the morning," Sango gave a small smile and fell back to her futon asleep. That was interesting. And she can't see the ghost, weird Kagome turned back to the girl ghost, who gave an awkward grin.

"My name's Kagome, what's yours?" Kagome asked, bowing her head slightly. Kilala looked up from the door and looked straight at the ghost, giving a small nod. Keeping her eyes on the kneeling girl the whole time. "And that's Kilala. Our resident Neko-demon," Kagome gave a small grin.

"My name is Kamiya (flower). And you can really see me, can't you?" the girl asked.

It's just like that little girl from my time. How sad. Kagome thought, nodding her head sympathetically. "Yeah, I have a bit of a gift for seeing ghosts. Now, why don't you want to get married? I think that you should be happy getting married."

"I... I am happy, just nervous. Will he like me? Will I be able to go home? Am I just going to be a servant? What what what!" the girl was getting hysterical.

Kagome drew Kamiya into a hug (as much as you can a ghost) and began rubbing soothing circles on her back, "shh, shh, how about I come with you and I'll protect you if you get in trouble. You look beautiful and this is your day. And if things don't go your way, we'll make it. Now lets go and meet your future husband. More than likely, you'll love him and he will love you." Kagome led the ghost out into the hallway, "where are you supposed to get married?"

Kamiya pointed her hand toward the back yard of the inn, "back there. I- I changed my mind. I don't want to get married!"

Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes, "its just your nerves, come on." Kagome pushed the transparent girl down the hallway and past the host and hostess' room. Even with the silent steps of a hanyou, the hostess saw Kagome walk past the partially open door. Of course, she couldn't see Kamiya, so she decided to see what the young girl was doing up so late when she was supposedly asleep.

* * *

Kagome was too focused on the ghost-girl in front of her to notice a following. Or she didn't care. Either way, the hostess followed the hanyou and ghost outside, passing through a barrier between worlds going to the afterlife.

"I remember this place from when Inuyasha and I met the nothing woman. What a beautiful place to get wed." Kagome gawked at the springtime flowers that never stops blooming.

"Wh-where are we?" the hostess spoke up for the first time, looking around and trying to pluck one of the flowers.

Kagome turned around to face her, "I'm glad that you decided to come to the wedding also, kamiya here needs all the support she can get." Kagome gestured to the visibly shaking girl.

The hostess noticed the girl for the first time ever, "are you the girl that has been haunting the inn since I was a little girl?" the apparition nodded slightly and the hostess' knees buckled. She had never seen the ghost before in her entire life and only had guest's stories to go by.

The hostess nodded slightly and plucked a beautiful flower. "What an appropriate name: Kamiya. The Kamis only rivaled you with the most beautiful of flowers," she put the flower in the girl's hair and stroked her cheek like only a mother would.

"Kamiya!" came a voice from the shrine beside the lake. The girls looked over and saw an older man in an orange gi (men's kimono) and yellow manto (cloak).

"Otou-san!" Kamiya waved back and ran on her many-layered kimono (no easy thing to do considering that the thing probably weighs more than her!).

Kagome and the hostess had no choice to follow at a trot. The father and daughter met half way and embraced. No telling how long since they had last seen each other. "Kamiya dear, where were you? We have been waiting so long for you. We were starting to get worried about you!"

"I was so scared, otou-san! But Kagome convinced me to come. I don't want to get married now. What if he is mean?" kamiya started to get hysterical again.

"Do not worry my musume (daughter), I picked your iinazuke (fiancé) from the best. I have known his family for years and he is a very good boy. Now it is almost time for the ceremony. Who are your friends that you brought?" he asked, snubbing Kagome's 'revealing' clothing slightly.

"This is Kagome and, umm... the hostess of the inn that Kagome was staying in." Kagome hesitated at the older woman wearing the sleeping yukata (short summer kimono).

The man waved his hand lazily at the two women. "We cannot have our guests wearing rags like that at a wedding," and at that, their clothes were changed into courtly kimonos (I love the thesaurus, baby!). Kagome's inner kimono was yellow with a gentle orange outer kimono. And the hostess' kimono had a white detailing on the sky blue background.

At that, the now finely dressed party went into the shrine. "Gambatte ne! (Do your best!)" Kagome whispered to kamiya before kneeling down on a guest pillow.

(I don't know much about Shinto weddings, so don't send an inu on me! For some reason, every dog I meet hates me) a woman with graying hair hugged kamiya before she continued to the front of the shrine beside a kneeling man in a gi to match Kamiya's. He turned to her and helped her to kneel on the cushion to his left.

The houshi stood up in front of the couple and started the ceremony. "We are here to seal the contract of two families by having their children eternally bonded..." (I thought that sounded cool and that's what I think weddings for predetermined (I can't think of the word, its like your parents arranged for the children to marry practically before the kids were born.) couples should start like.)

* * *

The new couple shared sake by Kamiya tipping some into the boy's mouth and him doing the same. They stood up together and the houshi presented them. "My kanai (wife) and I wish to thank you for coming and to have a blessed life!" the blushing husband announced, gesturing to Kamiya. The last thing Kagome remembered were the families, the hostess, and herself clapping for the couple. A faint thank you came through the white mist as a hyper Shippou woke her up.

#Your welcome# "Inuyasha?" Kagome asked groggily as she brushed off Shippou and buried her head in her arms.

"Well, at least we know what she was thinking of when she slept!" Sango laughed, trying to cover her grin.

"Morning, morning, morning Kagome-okaa-san!" Shippou bounced on her back, keeping a lookout for any rogue hands (do I really have to tell who? =rolls eyes=).

Kagome yawned and cat-stretched, noticing that she wasn't wearing her tank top, but her inner kimono from her 'dream.' #so Kamiya was real. I should have asked for my clothes back.#

"Lady Kagome, where did you get those clothes? I thought you were wearing clothes from your time last night," Miroku spoke up.

"Ugh, I don't want to play 20 questions now. Can't I just sleep?" Kagome looked at the monk with blurry eyes.

"What's 20 questions?" Miroku asked, watching Kagome pull on the outer kimono that they had found her sleeping in.

She fingered the fall leaves pattern on the outer kimono, "20 questions is a game from my time from another country. And I got this kimono from a friend's wedding last night. Her father didn't want me to be there in my shorts and I guess I should have asked for my clothes back before I left." All she got were blank stares from her companions and a morning rooster in the background.

"Umm. I guess I have to explain more to you guys. Here it goes: I went to a ghost's wedding in the between land where the ghost's ghost father gave me ghost world clothes. And you guys brought me back to this world before I could ask for my clothes back." More blank stares.

"Okay! One more try: I help ghosts to a happy afterlife. A Shinto bride named Kamiya haunted this inn. She was too scared to go along with the wedding and died in this inn. She asks all the young women that stay in this inn to help her. I woke up and convinced her to get married to her ghost of a husband, who had died waiting to marry her. We both went to the between land and I met her ghost father. He gave me this kimono. Kamiya and her husband finally got married and they crossed over to the after life together with their families. I woke up with Shippou bouncing on me in these clothes. Does that make any sense?" Kagome asked, waving her hands around to emphasize her point. Please, just nod your head yes and let's get breakfast she mentally pleaded.

They nodded their heads slowly; #she's lost it#

#No, but I'll just ignore it #

#Huh?#

#Meow? (Am I the only one that believes her?)#

"Would it just be easier to say that the hostess gave these to me and took my clothes?" Kagome got a unanimous yes from her friends.

They walked down to the kitchen to find that the hostess was already cooking. "Lady Kagome! Did you sleep well? And can you come here for a moment and stir this pot for me for a moment?" she hailed from the fire.

Kagome walked over and took up stirring the rice, sanity and someone who will believe me! "Did you get to keep that blue kimono?" Kagome asked casually in a whisper.

"Yes, I woke up in it about half an hour ago and hid it before my husband woke up. And here's your coin," it was slipped into Kagome's golden obi. "Was it real, the wedding I mean, or was I just dreaming?"

"It was real. I've been to the crossing lands before and I've also helped ghosts move on before. And Kamiya was easier than the last one I helped. She actually wanted to kill her younger brother and almost did it also. I'm glad I helped her move on." Kagome gave a smile at the memory of Myou (I don't know how to spell her name).

"can you go to the between land whenever you want?" the hostess wished to see her deceased son and say a final goodbye to him.

Kagome sensed the woman's sadness and teared up slightly herself, "I wish I could. I can only go when there is a ghost with me, and then it is very hard to do. I am going to try to find my way there and back myself one day. I would like to see my chichi-oya again. Who do you want to see?"

"my son. He ran away several years ago and was killed in battle. I would like to say goodbye to him," the hostess let tears drip off her chin, "how old were you when your chichi-oya died?"

Kagome was matching the hostess tear for tear and they had both sunk to the floor, "I think I was four."

Miroku and Sango had stopped setting up the table and stood watching the two blubber. "do you have any idea what they are crying about?" Miroku whispered into Sango's ear. She had started to break down also, remembering her village.

"Everyone has lost someone in their lifetime. Some sooner or later in our lifetimes. They're just relating their stories after she asked Kagome if she could open the portal to the middle lands between life and death," Shippou said solemnly, remembering his original parents. (sometimes Shippou can be mature, this is one of those rare times) Sometimes having demon hearing is a bad thing. He could also smell everyone's tears, even Miroku's and his own.

Kagome wiped her tears on a sleeve and stood up, "we should finish getting breakfast before we leave. Even with the family that we have lost in our past, we have a new family together. I guess you know a new thing about me today and have your curiosity satisfied for the day."

#Kagome's right, she's my new mamma. I guess Inuyasha is my daddy. And Miroku and Sango are my aunt and uncle. Myoga is like my granddaddy and Kilala... Kilala is kinda like a pet or sister. I mean she can't really talk to the rest of us, but we can still understand her. I have a good family and they are good to me... most of the time (Cough. Inuyasha. Cough.).# Shippou thought as he sat in Kagome's lap and started on his sweet rice.

* * *

Okay! I went everywhere with that chapter! Just like a Greek drama! There was drama, laughter, crying, and Shippou actually being serious! (unlike practically any other time I type about him). I have some questions again.

Kagome's biological dad's name. Good guy.

2)Kagome's step-dad's name. (so far in my future chapters I've referenced to her step dad as _him_) and the step-dad is EVIL!!!

3)the black dog clan's Mon (crest). I know the white dogs Mon is the crescent moon because of Sesshy's forehead (yeah, that's the family crest according to me). I'm thinking of one of those stars that have 8 points that are in those Jerusalem scenes.

And F.Y.I.: my excuse for not updating for a week or more is that our phone line is fried because of my net habits and we had no money to fix it.


	11. dream

Dang! 11 chapters and going. I would have laughed at myself if I had known how many chapters it would take to convince myself that people actually like my stuff. =Sigh= yet another week of no phone or net service, so I'm listening to whiskey lullaby on my local country station and counting down the days until school starts (Wednesday! Nooo!!! And its Monday now). And I'm singing alone with Krauss! What has the world come to! And I'm really bored and I need a friend's inspiration! And I bet by now you just want me to shut up and get along with the chapter.

Readers: YES!

Me: fine!

Btw: inu no mine, you no sue!

And next time you try to cuss me out for not updating sooner, repeat this line out loud and forget why your mad: HOLY LECHEROUS MONK NAMED MIROKU!

* * *

Chapter 11: Dream

Last time: Kagome's right, she's my new mamma. I guess Inuyasha is my daddy. And Miroku and Sango are my aunt and uncle. Myoga is like my granddaddy and Kilala... Kilala is kinda like a pet or sister. I mean she can't really talk to the rest of us, but we can still understand her. I have a good family and they are good to me... most of the time (Cough. Inuyasha. Cough.) Shippou thought as he sat in Kagome's lap and started on his sweet rice.

This time: "good bye and thanks for coming! Stop by next time you are in the area!" the hostess yelled after the journeying party.

"We will!" Kagome yelled back, waving enthusiastically. She had the headband back on until they were out of sight of the village.

"Lady Kagome, are you going to take that off anytime soon?" Miroku asked, gesturing to the makeshift hat.

She shrugged, "maybe. There's a boy from the village coming around the bend in the road and I don't want to scare him." Kagome grinned lopsided.

Shippou tugged at the knot holding it in place, "you won't scare him Kagome-okaa-san, he probably won't even notice us walking. And you don't have to be scared, we're here for you!" Shippou gave her a hug around her neck, mindful of his claws after what he accidentally did yesterday.

#I am scared of being treated different # "I'm not scared Shippou, just cautious." Kagome lowered her voice to a whisper, "Besides, we all look human at first glance. If he stops and actually looks, he'll see that we're different. But that's highly unlikely." Kagome plucked him off her shoulder and gave him a hug back.

Sango slipped up behind Kagome and plucked off her hat. "Why be cautious? Live a little! And if he decides to do anything, we can cut through the forest. It would take a couple of days off the trip back anyway. And Inuyasha should be there by now waiting for us," she tried reasoning with her friend.

* * *

Inuyasha (been a couple of chapters since I checked back with him!)

Inuyasha stepped out of the back room of Rumiko's cave yawning. "Did you sleep well last night, dear? There's some sweet rice by the fire for you. And I put some jasmine in it just like you liked it." Rumiko said, working on the detailing of something small.

# I haven't slept this well since Rumiko acted as my nanny for the month that... that my mother died # Inuyasha's shoulders slumped at the thought. "Did you put a sleeping spell on me Rumiko?"

She looked up in fake shock, "me? Put a spell on you! Why, I'm ashamed of you thinking that!"

"I take that as a yes," Inuyasha said dryly.

"Fine! You got me! Now eat your rice before it gets cold," Rumiko joked and they both laughed. He had missed Rumiko's presence.

They sat in a comfortable silence until Inuyasha's curiosity got the best of him, "what are you making Rumiko?"

She smiled and held up a curved dagger saya (scabbard). It had the fine detailing of embroidery that only Rumiko could do. "It's my present to Kagome-hime for when she takes throne. Don't tell her because I want to surprise her with it. Don't worry, I have something for you also. But what would you want anyway? You have a mate-to-be, a pack- I was surprised to hear you acquire a pack by now. You are very young to have one; even your brother is young for having a pack. - A sward, a pup as far as I've heard, a sense of home and belonging. You have all to make you happy. I'll surprise you also with the present, and its something that you will find useful," Rumiko gave him a secretive grin and continued the pattern on the saya that was not yet discernable.

Inuyasha took his time eating the treat that he hadn't had since he was living with his mother. He was even thankful enough to wash out the empty bowl and chopsticks. "Thank you for doing this for me, and I hope that Kagome will like the clothes also. Is there anything that I can do to repay you? (I know "Inuyasha doesn't ask anyone anything or be nice," but he has his guard down and he's known Rumiko for years.)" He offered, grabbing the satchel containing the clothes.

Rumiko shook her head no and looked up from her work with a smile, "all you have to do is invite me to the mating ceremony and I will be happy. Maybe I can be a stand-in for Iyazoi (his human mom) if you permit it. You said that Kagome-hime was waiting at the village you both stay in? Shouldn't you start traveling to it? It was Musashi village wasn't it?"

Inuyasha nodded and shouldered the pack that was surprisingly light for how big it was. "I'd like you to be a stand-in, and yeah, Musashi village," with that he left at a full run, hoping to beat her to the village. Even if he was further away. #How fast is she? I hope that Kagome likes these clothes after Rumiko worked all night on them. #

=Flash = Inuyasha heard the laughter of Kagome as she ran ahead of the group in the forest. He recognized the trees; they were already in his forest! Then Kagome stopped suddenly, like she had felt a jewel shard. =Flash =

Inuyasha came out of the vision just in time to barely swerve and miss a tree

* * *

Kagome, in Inuyasha's forest.

"We're almost there! I'm running ahead, see you later!" Kagome took off at a sprint, laughing. Shippou had enough of holding on to Kagome and jumped off and onto Sango's shoulder in time to avoid the running girl.

"What's your hurry?" Sango called ahead, looking at the retreating girl's back.

Kagome started laughing, "I just want to beat Inuyasha to the village!" Sango rolled her eyes, she could see a new competition forming between the two since Kagome had turned hanyou: who is top hanyou. Of coarse it was friendly; they were, after all, lovers. Now if Sango could verbalize her relationship with Miroku like he did.

Kagome enjoyed the thrill of the trees blurring on either side of her. That was why she never argued when Inuyasha insisted on her riding his back. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a pale red shape running alongside her. She turned her head slightly and saw that it was a ghost-like form of Inuyasha. Skidding to a stop, she stared at the form until it disappeared.

"Lady Kagome! Why did you stop?" Miroku asked, running to catch up with her. She looked like she had sensed a jewel shard.

Kagome shook her head to clear her thoughts and turned to an out-of-breath monk. "I... I thought I saw something, that's all." Kagome turned her head to the village that was just out of sight, "go on ahead, I'm going to wait for Inuyasha by the Goshinboku." With that, she ran the other direction.

# Inuyasha, are you okay? I hope that wasn't your ghost # Kagome thought as she reached the destined tree. Both of them felt comforted by the giant tree whenever they were worried. Kagome would snuggle in around the roots and Inuyasha picked a branch directly above her. The tree resolved many an internal conflict and it felt like a connection between the two. Kagome sniffed lightly and picked up Inuyasha's old scent on the branches. She jumped.

She settled down, letting herself get absorbed by Inuyasha's scent. His aura had always comforted her, and his scent did the same. She didn't know when she fell asleep, but she did.

* * *

(her dream)

"Kagome!" came a male voice from outside her bedroom door. An angry voice that she hadn't heard in years. "Kagome, get your worthless ass down here and clean up this mess!"

Kagome's worse nightmare: a memory of her stepfather and how he treated her. Her younger self looked around her room and locked on a mirror. She had bruises running up and down her arms and a black eye. She was shaking still and tears ran down her cheeks from just that morning's abuse.

She took a deep breath and sent a quick prayer up to the Kamis. Opening the door, she slunk down to the kitchen and picked up a broom. He had most likely did this on purpose like usual.

The broken plates, the ones that she was suppose to wash later, lay scattered on the floor. Kagome sighed internally and began sweeping the floor, bowing lowly as she passed her stepfather. He sneered and left to take care of a year-old Souta.

A younger Gin walked in and saw Kagome sweeping up the broken platters, "what happened sweetie?" she asked innocently, kneeling down to Kagome's height.

"I..." Kashisu looked over Gin's shoulder and gave her a warning glare, "I accidentally dropped the dishes mommy. When I was doing the dishes!" Kagome gave a grin, showing the gaps where her baby teeth had fallen out. If she wouldn't have lied to her mother, she would have had to deal with her stepfather (Kashisu) later. She could heal relatively fast, but the beatings would just renew the wounds.

The dishes' breaking was a constant in the house. To the point that Gin had a whole box of the cheap china in the garage. And for some reason, it was always Kashisu that was in the kitchen while it happened, but little Kagome always took the blame.

Kagome finished sweeping and put the broom away. Kashisu followed her up the stairs and into her room, leaving the innocent act downstairs with Gin and Souta. He was so silent following her that she didn't even know that he was there until she heard the soft click of her door closing. "Kagome, my sweet, why did you break the dishes again? You know how expensive they are after all of you butterfingers excuses." He stalked her into a corner with his honey-dripping venom. The dishes were just another excuse to beat up the poor hanyou girl. "Now, why don't you come here and I'll give you a hug."

Young Kagome shook her head and turned it to the side, hopefully saving her uninjured eye. Kashisu's mask cracked slightly, "why you!" he raised his hand and cuffed her in the ear, making her temporarily deaf. Kagome whimpered and fell to her knees, hands over her abused ears. "That was nothing, half breed, just wait until your mama and Souta leave. Then the real fun will begin." He laughed like he had told a joke and left, closing the door behind him.

Kagome was left in the middle of the room and cried. Buyo came out from under the bed and rubbed his face against her leg, betting for attention. Kagome looked up from her lap and scratched the kitten behind the ears. "Why does he have to treat me like this? And why does he say so many mean things to me 'just because'? This is the second time today and its not even lunch," she whispered to Buyo. Its funny, the cat Buyo had been around since Kagome could remember and seemed not to age a day.

"Myuun (meow)" Buyo said, gesturing to the window. Kagome didn't seem to notice with her inner thoughts plaguing her senses. He got up and was walked the way to the window and back several times. No response. Finally, Buyo growled internally and bit Kagome just enough to get her attention, but not enough to expel blood.

Kagome withdrew her hand and looked at it, seeing the two red marks from his canines. "What was that for Buyo?" she scolded, showing him the bite.

"Myuun," Buyo said again, grabbing her sleeve and tried to pull her to the window. Kagome stood up and followed him to the window, looking to the tree that Buyo was looking at.

"The Goshinboku, what's so special about it this time?" Kagome asked with a hint of anger in her voice. Buyo just looked at the hanyou girl and back to the tree.

"You want me to go to the tree Buyo?" she asked with some apprehension.

"..."

"But he won't let me out of my room. And it's the second story, how am I suppose to get out?" Kagome looked straight down and backed away from the window like it would eat her.

#Jump, its never stopped you before # Buyo thought, hoping that Kagome would come to the same conclusion.

"I should jump, I've done it before. It's a piece of cake," Kagome laughed nervously as she opened the window. "Besides, _he _won't be able to get me when I'm up in the tree."

# If only your real father was still here. He wouldn't let this imposter abuse you the way he does my charge, he would run him out of town. Go up the tree and heal. Don't worry, gin will know where you went, I'll tell her # and with a nudge from Buyo, Kagome jumped down to the ground.

"Perfect landing" Kagome mumbled to herself, sprinting to the tree and jumping into its lower branches. From there, she climbed up to a place that seemed worn smooth. She settled down and looked at the city view. Yeah she had a small wooded area around the shrine, but the rest of the city was the urban jungle.

"Beautiful view, isn't it" a voice came from above her head.

"Ahh!" Kagome was so startled that she started to fall out of the tree. A clawed hand belonging to the voice grabbed the back of her shirt and put her back on the branch. As soon as she was placed back, her arms went mostly around the large branch and she dug her claws into the bark.

"I don't want to explain to your mother later how you managed to kill yourself falling out of a tree later, so try to stay put," the man said, kneeling on the branch in front of the young girl. Kagome nodded and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Wh...who are you?" Kagome asked, clinging tighter to the branch.

The man straddled the branch and grabbed Kagome's chin gently, making her look up at him. "Just call me Inu, okay," he smiled and rubbed Kagome's cheek as if remembering someone (you all should know whom I'm talking about!).

"Dog? Why?" Kagome asked, trying to gain her balance against the light wind. Inu kept a hand on her arm as she sat back against the tree again.

Inu made a show of fumbling with his necklace that had fangs on it before he answered. "'Cause that's my name. What's yours?"

"Ka-Kagome. My name's Kagome and this is my tree. Why are you up here?" the little hanyou puffed her chest up at the older looking human (she thought it was a human, but she's 6 what do you expect).

He laughed. Hard. "Umm... mister? Why are you laughing at me?" she asked meekly.

"Sorry little Kagome, it's just that I have rested in this tree long before you were even born. And I mean a long time before," Inu looked into her eyes as they became more dilated. "So I should really be asking you why you're in _my_ tree." Kagome sputtered, having no idea how to answer the strange white-haired man. Inu laughed, lifting her up to put himself between Kagome and the tree trunk. "There, I can make sure that you don't fall better this way."

Kagome blushed, "thank you Inu." They sat and watched the city for a long time in comfortable silence. Occasionally, Inu would point out a passing plane or a cop car going by and he would mutter something about modern things being good and bad, depending on how you looked at it.

Kagome was about to fall asleep against the red polo shirt when a voice called from underneath them. "Kagome! I know you're up there! Your lunch is under the bench when you want it and the window is open when you want to come back in." Gin sighed and looked up into the tree from the bench. She knew that Kagome could hear her perfectly fine. "I know what he did to you and I'm sorry. But you need a father in your life. And we have Souta to take care of also. When you feel like talking, I'll be inside." Gin stood up and walked back to the house, inside fighting her urge to call the police on child abuse. But she knew that by the time they came, all the signs would have healed and there would be more questions about Kagome's natural appearance than they could handle. And then Kagome would get beaten more that night.

Inu looked at Kagome's bruises and then down to the bench that hid her lunch. "Let's get your lunch before it gets cold," with that, he scooped up the small child and leapt from the tree.

Quickly grabbing Kagome's lunch, he jumped back up to the branch they previously inhabited. Handing Kagome an apple inu sat her against the trunk and held the rest of brown-bag to himself, making Kagome finish the apple before she got any of her onigirii (rice balls).

Kagome ate slowly because of a bruise on her jawbone. Inu studied her face and all the marks on it from that morning and the previous day. One particularly nasty one was her eye. "When did that happen?" he asked, brushing the tender flesh.

"Step-daddy did that yesterday because he said that I was so ugly that no one would notice," Kagome said innocently, shrugging it off as the norm. That caused a growl to come from the older hanyou.

"It's not good to let him hit you like that. I'm going to send someone to make sure that doesn't happen to you again, okay?" Inu said gruffly, trying not to kill the man then and there.

Kagome's eyes got wide; "you can't do that! He's my daddy and daddies have to be with mommies and little brothers!"

Inu nodded slowly, letting his anger out in a heavy breath. "Kagome, don't worry. I won't send any mean people after your daddy." #not right now at least # he thought, setting the girl back onto his lap to watch the rest of the day go by.

They watched the rest of the world went by and the sun was making Tokyo a silhouette to the blue sky. "Kagome," inu finally spoke up, startling her, "you should go in now before you get too cold. You mommy said that she was waiting for you and you don't want to keep her waiting more than you should, do you?" he asked, tweaking her dog ear lightly.

Kagome turned around to face the white-haired man, "thank you for keeping me company today. Will I see you again?"

Inu laughed secretly, "I don't know, you might see me around." And with that, he jumped her down to the ground and placed her on the ground. Kagome gave him a smile and hugged his waist. Inu smiled back and gave her a slight push to her home.

Kagome jumped into the tree that led to her window and crawled into her room. There was Gin on her bed, working on many of her scrapbooks. "Mommy!" Kagome called as she threw herself on her mother.

"You see Kagome, the window will always be unlocked. Both to your room and to me," Gin said, a white mist started to surround them as they hugged.

* * *

"Kagome!" a yell came through the mist as the bed started to shake violently.

"Kagome!" the yell came again, and she cracked her eyes open to see the face from her dream.

"Inu?" she asked, a sigh of relief came from the hanyou as he sat down in front of her. "Inuyasha! I was so worried that you were gone!" she said, remembering the ghost form of Inuyasha.

"You were only sleeping...wench," #Smooth one there, you almost let it slip that you were worried. # Inuyasha smirked.

# You almost let that one slip, Inuyasha, you were worried about me # "what's that?" Kagome asked, noticing a package slung over his shoulder.

"Nothing!" Inuyasha said, a bit too quickly to not bring up any suspicion.

Kagome cast him a side-glance and let it slide. "Are we going back to my time? I need to get my pack that _someone_ made me leave behind this time. And I know that the same person gets cranky when they don't have their ramen." She smirked and decided to play a bit and jumped down, heading to the village in the opposite direction of the well.

Inuyasha caught the playful bait and followed, knowing that he was to leave the mysterious package at Kayede's hut. "Oh, and who would that be?"

"Someone with a bit of a short fuse and will never let me rest in peace," Kagome grinned and continued to the village.

#Short fuse? # "And would I know this person, or are they some other mysterious suitor?" he knew who it was, but this was just too fun. And he barely had enough time for fun. And besides, they would change to arguing once they were within earshot of the village.

# Oh yeah, he knows already. Now to spark that fuse... # "I don't know if you know him or not. He's from here and can be a bit... interesting at times with his habits." She thought of the small piece of Miroku that was starting to rub off onto Inuyasha.

# MIROKU! No, Miroku doesn't like ramen... nor have a short fuse. He has to have the longest fuse that I've ever seen for a human. # "Interesting. What do you mean interesting?" they were cresting the hill, thus within the human's hearing range. They started arguing.

"I mean that he won't even come down out of the clouds for others. That's interesting. And you know what, the color that he wears is the same every day, even when I took him to the mall to get some clothes so he wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb in my country!" Kagome was hoping that Inuyasha would take the hint to notice her clothes.

"Like you usually do! And by the way, nice kimono," Inuyasha whispered the last part.

"Thanks, I'll tell you how I got it later," Kagome whispered back, "what's wrong about the way I look. My fuku is required and you pull me here before I can change into any proper clothes!" Kagome was back to yelling.

"Well then, what would you consider proper for this time?" they entered the hut and Inuyasha threw the package into the far corner. "Don't touch! I'll smell it if you do!" Inuyasha warned as he left, seeing the curiosity in his pack's eyes.

Kagome waited until they were both out of the hut before continuing, "a pair of jeans. They last longer and would protect me better than a mini-skirt!

# Not to mention no more leg. The same thing with her new clothes either way. Oh well. # "Oi!" he had to admit, she had backed him into a corner with that one. That was the same idea of the inhabitants of the hut that were still listening.

Kagome started laughing after the angry face cracked with Inuyasha's confused expression. He liked the mini skirt. Kagome started running for the well laughing while he was distracted. Her plan of making all the way to the well without him noticing failed because of the ground-length kimono kept tripping her.

"Oi!" Inuyasha repeated, chasing after her and soon catching her. He scooped her up and jumped into the well. "You're still as slow as ever Kagome."

"It's because of the stupid kimono!" was the last thing that the feudal era heard before the time stream swallowed them.

* * *

You all should be proud of me! This is my longest chapter yet (12 pages). You were introduced to Kagome's step-dad and Souta's biological dad: Kashisu. He's abusive and Gin eventually divorced him when some private police came and witnessed the beating on young Kagome. My dream sequence was only suppose to be like one page, but it ran away with my keyboard.

A story called Run Kagome influenced me with Kagome's dad. The story is really good, but sad. I would like to thank you all for reading this story and with about 150 reviews, I know to continue this story.

Dark Inu Fan


	12. coming home

Thank you all for reviewing this story. What' interesting is that I have pre-written this chapter. So, I don't know if it will be up to par. But I have been working on this chapter for the past 2 months. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: look at my name, why would I have the word fan in my name if I owned Inuyasha? Unless I was a nut, then it would be a whole other story.

* * *

Chapter 12: coming home

Last time: "Oi!" Inuyasha repeated, chasing after her and soon catching her. He scooped her up and jumped into the well. "You're still as slow as ever Kagome."

"It's because of the stupid kimono!" was the last thing that the feudal era heard before the time stream swallowed them.

This time: they appeared at the bottom of the well and Kagome immediately recognized a scent that hadn't been around in years. She growled quietly as she recognized whom it belonged to. "That scent, its Souta's father. Probably the most human loving being in the world. Think opposite of Sesshomaru, but worse," Kagome took a deep breath to calm down. "Lets just hope that my window is unlocked," she said as she jumped out of the well and peeked out of the mini-shrine's window.

Kagome sniffed again, that bakayarou (trust me, VERY strong language coming out of Kag's mouth there) was in the living room with the family. No, Gin was upstairs for some reason, according to her scent. "I hope she kept her promise," Kagome whispered before running to the tree outside her window.

"What promise?" Inuyasha asked as he followed her up the tree. She sat down on a branch that hidden from view and motioned for Inuyasha to sit down beside her.

"I'm getting my memories back form before the spell was placed. One day when I was six, mom caught me coming back in through the window after escaping _him_ and his ideas of treating me. I had run away that morning and hid in the Goshinboku until dinner. I always felt safe in that tree," they both grinned slightly at that statement, that was something they both had in common. "She left a lunch for me on the bench and she knew I was up there the whole time. But he never found me. She was there when I decided to come in to eat dinner for the night and she was right there on the bed ready to give me a hug. She whispered one thing before she left to take care of Souta, 'the window will never be locked to you and I will be waiting,'" Kagome sighed and tested the window. And sure enough, gin was in the room looking through some old photo albums that Kagome hadn't seen before. And by some, I meant that there was a pile as tall as Kagome's bed.

Gin looked at the window when she heard the tapping and grinned. Kagome smiled back and motioned Inuyasha to come in. the mother and daughter exchanged hugs until a voice came from downstairs. "Woman, I'm taking Souta now and you'd better not be in that filth of a hanyou's room again!" he yelled, starting to come upstairs.

Gin's eyes went wide, "hurry, go into the room, do you remember where it is?" she asked in a barely audible whisper. Kagome nodded and half-dragged Inuyasha under hr bed where there was, surprisingly, plenty of room. Kagome moved to a hidden door to the left of her closet and slid it open. She said a quiet chant as she crossed the magic barrier into a hidden room.

* * *

The room was big enough to comfortably have a futon, cabinets with non-perishable foods, and a small bathroom area containing a sink and toilet. There was only a little dust on top of the cabinets and nothing else. "Mom kept this room up for when step-dad visits," was Kagome's answer to all of Inuyasha's silent questions.

"Don't worry, the barrier lets sound in, but no sound out. So we can talk normally here. Mom, Ji-chan and I built this into my room and disguised it as a closet. This wall that has the closet is fake. And in all reality, my room is the biggest in the house." Kagome grinned and pulled out some shrimp ramen and a heater to boil water in. "She must've known you'd be with me this time," Kagome mumbled, turning on the heater and getting some water from the tap to boil. Kagome had gone on automatic and all Inuyasha could do is sit on the futon and listen.

Once Kagome was satisfied that the heater was working, she stepped up the stepladder to look out the false air vent in time to see Kashisu bang open the door. He had light brown hair and blue eyes that seemed to see right to your very soul. He was taller than Gin and was built like a boxer with WAY too many muscles. Kagome was growling slightly at just his sight. Inuyasha was behind hr as soon as the growling started, just in case Kagome did something _drastic_. He walked over to Gin and hit her in the face. Inuyasha had Kagome in a bear hug within milliseconds. She was about to tear the wall down and kill him.

"What are you doing in this... this abomination's room? You should have killed it when you had the chance. You have a normal _human _child from me. All she was good for were chores anyway! He laughed at his personal joke and left.

Kagome regained her senses long enough to slip out of Inuyasha's hold and out of the small door. Gin slipped a dainty rosary out of her pocket and over Kagome's head when she crawled out from under the bed and Inuyasha following. "Inuyasha: command Kagome!" Gin said just loud enough for Inuyasha to hear.

"Kagome stay here," at that, an invisible force grabbed her scruff and lifted her so that her toes were grazing the carpet. Her arms and legs were totally paralyzed and she could barely move hr head, but her mouth worked perfectly fine.

"Let me at him! He deserves to pay for what he did to mama!" Kagome hissed with a stunned look in her eyes. She had been stopped a mere three feet from the door. Inuyasha walked in-between the door and Kagome to stare onto her red-tinged eyes. "What did you do?" she hissed into his face.

"You have a commanding spell now with that rosary on," he gestured to the small white beads and black fangs on a string smirking. Kagome growled in defiance at this fact, at least she was floating in midair instead of making out with the dirt that Inuyasha was practically married to. The spell wore off and Kagome fell to her butt, not getting her feet under her fast enough. #That was good! # Inuyasha grinned before offering his hand to help her up.

"Take ten deep breaths before you leave this room," he managed to say with a straight face, acting more like a parent than a boyfriend does. Kagome closed her eyes and counted to ten before trying to rip the rosary off, which (of coarse) didn't work.

Inuyasha had to stifle another laugh when Kagome turned to her mom, who was reading a letter that was in one of Kagome's baby scrapbooks. "Mother?" Kagome asked through clenched teeth, "why did you put a rosary on me?" Gin looked up into her daughter's barely controlled anger.

#Its just like every time he comes # "I don't mind you hurting him, but do not kill him on Higurashi property. And besides, Souta wouldn't talk to you for a year. Remember his arm?" Kagome winced at that memory; he hadn't even looked at Kagome for the rest of the fall break. And man, that was a dull break! "And, dear, you're your water is boiling," Gin pointed behind herself to the hidden room. Kagome's anger was quickly dissipated as she rushed into the room and quickly turned off the heater and poured the water in the cup for Inuyasha's ramen. She crawled out from the room and handed it to a distracted boy.

Gin had begun to show him baby pictures. One in particular had a black demon dog holding a black demon pup by the scruff in its teeth. "That was one of the first times she found out about her demon night. Kagome was so scared that that's all that her father could do to comfort her was holding her like that all night. I think that she was about a year old in that picture. I heard from Kagome that you turn human on the new moon, correct?" gin looked into Inuyasha's eyes for the truth. He nodded glumly, suddenly jealous of Kagome's night. Gin patted his cheek, "don't worry, once you two mate, you will have a demon night also. I'm guessing on the full moon."

Inuyasha swallowed his mouthful of noodles as his eyes got wide, #demon night? Does Kagome... will I go wild? # Inuyasha gulped with nervousness. Kagome kept the appearance of not being interested and looking out the window, but she had an ear turned to hear her mother.

"Well, if I remember correctly, it was the half-moons. When the left half was gone, she was demon for the night. Or was it the right side? I believe there is the moon in one of her demon pictures," Gin flipped through an album with the moon phases on the cover. The first page was a sliver of a moon on the bottom. Most of the page was a sleeping Kagome in her crib and her fist stuffed into her mouth. Two words: blackmail material. She flipped through pages until the entire left half of the moon was visible. On that page was a picture of a black puppy curled on a cushion. "Isn't she so cute when she finally falls asleep! Oh, and its when the right side is gone."

Kagome looked up at the day-moon, # only a few more days until the half moon. And it feels like my demon side is like the tides, and its coming in. #

"What was she like? When she was demon, I mean. Just so we can be prepared," Inuyasha tried to put on a tough front, but he was scared, very scared.

"If I remember correctly, during the day she would turn into her humanlike demon form. She had –has - a tail and pointed ears. Not really much of a change physically. Bit she seemed on edge on those days. And then as soon as nightfall came, she would turn onto her dog form. She would always be scared out of her wits and her father would always have to calm her down. During the morning hours, she would finally calm down and sleep because her stressing used up all of her energy. The only time that I could get this photo was about half an hour before dawn!" Gin took the photo of Kagome on a cushion and gave it to Inuyasha. "I think I like this picture the best, so don't lose it in your era."

"At least I'm not a fir ball those nights! But I do think that I got a good bite in once _step-daddy_ moved in," Kagome growled lightly when she mentioned _him_. "Besides, didn't he leave already with Souta? I need to get something to drink," Kagome rushed out, followed quickly by Inuyasha and gin.

Kashisu was at the bottom of the stairs, leading Souta out the door for his summer visitation. He managed to look at the stair and lock eyes with Kagome. "You!" they both yelled at the same time. Souta went to give his sister a hug goodbye. But Kashisu grabbed Souta's collar and pulled him back, punching Kagome in the face at the same time. Inuyasha caught her from falling back and held her from shredding the man into microscopic pieces.

"Gin! You should have gotten rid of this, this filth of a sentient being. It should have been killed as soon as it was born. We don't need this _thing_ to muddle up the clean _human_ genes in this world. I have killed many; I shouldn't even call them beings, of this kind of things before. And you have a human heir to keep this shrine alive," Kashisu kept a firm hold on Souta, but kept him in plain sight.

Inuyasha was even having a hard time restraining himself now, but was concentrating on Kagome. Her eyes were flashing red at her supposed father figure. "Kagome, calm down. All he is, is a stupid human." Inuyasha whispered in one of Kagome's flattened ears; "he is below us. All he is, is hot air. Just please calm down, Kagome," he was pleading to the girl in his arms now. Kashisu turned to leave, dragging Souta behind himself.

Gin touched her cheek gingerly as she watched her ex and son leave, #my poor boy, gone. And there is nothing I can do about it # Gin sighed. Kagome calmed down slowly as his scent faded and was replaced by Inuyasha's free one. When she looked like she was calm enough, Inuyasha put Kagome down on the bottom step. Gin looked up at Kagome's recently renewed features, finally noticing them. Well, she had noticed the furry appendages earlier, but the connection never clicked 'til now.

"Kagome!" the excited adult squealed, causing Kagome and Inuyasha to fold their ears down from the noise that was worse than claws against a chalkboard, "you have your ears back!" Gin gave her daughter an affectionate tweak. #Just as soft as I remember, oh how I missed them # Gin thought as she tapped the pressure point at Kagome's tips, causing the girl to become drowsy.

Inuyasha's ears had been fine to tide over her need to tweak ears, but she missed her daughter's. Kagome sat down on the bottom step as Gin continued her tweak-scapade. Inuyasha couldn't help but snigger as he tried to make it safely into the kitchen without "sit!"

=Thud =

"What was that for, bitch?" he yelled into the carpet. Apparently she was not exactly over her whole step-dad fiasco.

"For laughing at me!" Kagome said with a low growl in the back of her throat while batting away her mother's hands.

"Its not like you laughed at her hurting my ears!" Inuyasha grumbled, "now, where is that point on Kagome?" he asked, a mischievous look in his eyes.

Kagome's eyes went wide as she brandished her claws. "You'd better not touch my ears!" Inuyasha barely dodged a hand before remembering the collar.

"Kagome, stay there," Kagome was wrenched up out of Gin's grasp to float at the bottom of the stairs. His grin was renewed as he was instructed to where to press.

"I remember Kagome's dad showing me this when Kagome refused to take her nap. It would put her down instantly. And she was so cute! I remember that she sucked her thumb until she was six!" Gin caught her daughter's warning glare, "but that was only in her sleep of course."

"Mom! I'm older now =oomph = I really need to work on that landing," she muttered, brushing imaginary dust off her rear. "I can take care of myself."

"Actually, in youkai, Shippou is older than you," Inuyasha cut in, faking an innocent look. That got Kagome, and he knew it!

"What! He thinks of me like his own mother and I'm _younger_ than he is? That's not right!"

"But you're both hanyous, right?" Gin's words were lost in the teenager's argument.

"Your nothing but a pup! A pup! And one that still needs to be disciplined too!"

"Kids?"

"Disciplined? Disciplined! What do you mean? I can handle myself fine. You're the one that needs to keep his mouth shut!" it was nearing screaming at each other now. Gin pulled the only weapon she had against haninus (literally: half dogs) and put it against her lips and blew, but not before noticing that they were mere inches away from kissing.

"Oww!" they both howled for the second that the whistle was blowing.

"Now that I have your attention...if you want to fight, go outside in the backyard. I don't want my house to be wrecked!" Gin said more calmly than the two could think. They slinked out, argument completely forgotten for now.

* * *

"Did you have any idea that she had one of those?" Inuyasha asked, visibly shaken

"N-no, I've never seen that around before. She probably got it while I was gone." Kagome replied, trying to get the insistent ringing out of her poor, abused ears.

"What was that? It hurt," Inuyasha asked, rubbing his head.

"I think that was a dog whistle. Humans use it for obedience training. I hope she never used _that_ again!" Inuyasha nodded on agreement. Definitely do NOT get Kagome's mom mad.

Kagome sighed, "I guess she is tense after Kashisu coming for Souta for the summer. I'm sorry that you had to witness that. Souta goes with him every summer and comes back in time for school in the fall. I never found out what he does every summer, but he comes back depressed ever time... at least every time he's around me... for about a month."

Inuyasha formed a plan in his head. It was also a good way to judge Kagome's tracking skills, or lack there of. "If you want to, we can follow and find out what happens to him."

"One problem: I don't know where Kashisu lives and I don't think mom knows either," Kagome sighed and turned to the Goshinboku.

"You forget, we have noses..."

"It's a city. There are millions of people here," Kagome waved her hands around to encompass Tokyo's skyscrapers.

"I've tracked you before, and Souta's not that different from your human scent. Remember the Noh mask?" Inuyasha discreetly looked to the building that was now finished that he had fought the Noh mask in.

"Yes I remember... wait a minute! You TRACKED ME!"

Inuyasha grinned at her reaction, his cocky front showing, "and you'd be a blob of rotting flesh if I didn't."

"..."

"And if I have won this round, we have to get going so the trail doesn't get cold." Inuyasha gestured to the shrine stairs (yeah, all 70 million of them. No wonder Kagome and Souta were in great shape at the beginning of the show).

"Fine!" Kagome spit out as they raced down the stairs.

* * *

I guess this is as good as any to stop the chapter. I could have easily made this twice as long, but I didn't want to. The next chapter will be all review responses and then on to tracking Souta. So, if you have any questions about the story so far, ask now or forever hold your confusion. dark


	13. Taijiya Kashisu

I know I haven't updated in a long time and here's my pathetic excuse: I had a cold and the reality of high school has finally caught up with me and my mom is in school also. Bad isn't it? Well, here's chapter lucky 13!

Disclaimer: inu no mine, you know sue.

* * *

Chapter 13: Taijiya Kashisu

Last time: "And if I have won this round, we have to get going so the trail doesn't get cold." Inuyasha gestured to the shrine stairs (yeah, all 70 million of them. No wonder Kagome and Souta were in great shape at the beginning of the show).

"Fine!" Kagome spit out as they raced down the stairs.

This time: "ok, this is your turn. If you get off track, I'll correct you. And you have their scents memorized even if you didn't know it. Now, take a deep breath through your nose and pick out your step-dad's..."

Kagome started growling, "I prefer you not call him my step-father." She bit out through her teeth.

"Fine, pick out Kashisu's and Souta's scent." Kagome did as she was told, closing her eyes to concentrate.

"That way," Kagome said in a monotone voice, pointing north out of Tokyo. She had sounded so remarkably like Kikyo that Inuyasha had to do a double take. It was also the shortest route out into the country. Inuyasha nodded, so far, so good.

"Hop on," Inuyasha offered his back to ride.

"No," Kagome answered almost immediately.

Inuyasha was shocked, "no?"

"No," Kagome affirmed.

"I... ah... why?" he wasn't used to the whole 'Kagome can take care of herself now' thing yet.

"I know this city better than you, and I can also run just as fast as you now," Kagome ticked off on her fingertips. Inuyasha was shocked. Not only shocked, but skewered and burned rotisserie style. Kagome saw that in his eyes, "but I don't have your endurance, you can carry me back home if you want," Kagome gave a reassuring smile to seal the promise. Inuyasha nodded reluctantly and Kagome took off.

They soon found out that Kashisu had a black truck to match his name (his name means black current if you have to know). It stood out relatively well, considering it was about the only ford in Japan. "I didn't know that he lived this far out of tow. Souta said that he was only just on the outskirts," Kagome said after they had traveled a good twenty km (personally, I use miles, but most of you guys don't). Once they got out into the wooded area, Kagome and Inuyasha ran parallel to the truck under the cover of the trees.

"What, getting tired?" Inuyasha smirked; he wasn't even breathing heavy yet.

"Ha! You wish!" (Translation from stubborn hanyou to human: yes, extremely. But I don't want to admit it to you so I would look like a weakling. (Does this bit of a stunt remind you of someone?)) And she sped up about a kilometer to rest in a tree for a minute.

Thirty kilometers later, they came to a private area hidden in the woods by a natural tree wall (they had grown together). The couple jumped just high enough to see through the foliage. They lost sight of Souta and Kashisu for a minute, but soon found them near one of the traditional-looking huts. Souta was changed into a black taiji-ya's outfit with dark blue armor. While Kashisu's armor looked the color of dried blood.

"A modern-day slayer's village! I didn't think it was possible," Kagome whispered, careful not to catch any of the villager's attention. Inuyasha only dared to nod as they settled in to watch what Souta was doing down there.

"Boy! Come here!" Kashisu barked, eyeing him disdainfully, "you've gone soft, boy, you haven't been practicing this year, have you?" he towered over the ten-year-old boy that still managed to keep his dignity.

"N-no sir" Souta stuttered, trying a weak salute.

Kashisu managed to hold his anger just under his skin, "and why haven't you been training?"

"Kag... the hanyou," Souta winced at the verbal error, "hasn't been at the shrine for the past year. She found the portal well and has been able to travel..."Kashisu's hand struck Souta's face, cutting off his sentence and promising a bruise later.

Kagome was about to jump down until Inuyasha grabbed her arm, "do you want us to get killed?!?" he hissed in her ear.

"Let's at least see what you managed to retain from last year. Come at me boy!" at that, Souta only hesitated a millisecond before attempting a head-butt. Kashisu easily sidestepped and did a chop on his back, causing Souta to eat a mouthful of dirt.

"You're lacking and there's no excuse!" Kashisu tried to plant his foot on Souta's back, but he rolled into a standing defensive position just in time. Souta blocked a roundhouse with his arms and his hands started glowing.

Inuyasha noticed Souta's increased speed and now the glowing hands, # is gin really telling the truth that he's full human? # Inuyasha thought, casting a side-glance at Kagome; who was paying attention like it was a sporting event.

Kashisu started laughing at his son's reaction, "'bout time, boy, that you got warmed up." Souta took a deep breath and let the purple glow swirl up his arms.

"Yeah, yeah, take your precious time now, but your going to have to learn to do that instantly once you start fighting the real abominations. They won't wait for you to warm up, you'd be DEAD!" he tried to punch Souta in the face, but he easily dodged, singeing off Kashisu's arm hair.

Inuyasha turned to Kagome, his face showing the unspoken question of 'how did he do that?' Kagome let out a silent sigh and jumped into the woods with Inuyasha following. Some of the villagers looked up at the sudden rustle of branches, shrugging it off as some bird or squirrel.

* * *

They were a mile away from the camp before Kagome dared to make any noise. "I can do the same thing since I was his age. That's one of the only reasons why I even met you. 'Cause if I didn't know how to do that, mistress centipede would have killed me in the bone-eater's well," Kagome explained as calmly as she could.

"Then how come you never helped in battle?" Inuyasha was priming up for an argument.

"Because... you never let me. All you expected was for me to have Kikyo's powers and abilities. You would keep saying that I was a weak human who could easily be killed. There were so many times that I wanted to show you, but you kept acting blind. And even if I wanted to, it's like when _you_ turn demon. It's a last resort for me and I keep trying to do it, but I can't." Kagome gave Inuyasha a death glare and started running the direction of Tokyo.

"But I have SAVED YOUR LIFE BEFORE!" she called over her shoulder to the hanyou just starting to catch up. Inuyasha caught up and tackled Kagome from behind so he could look her in the face.

They rolled a couple of feet, "when?" Inuyasha was surprised by Kagome's statement, but wouldn't say so out loud. They locked eyes before Kagome tried to squirm out of his grasp.

"It was before even Shippou joined us. When Sesshomaru decided to spray me with the acid, you and Myoga thought that it was the sward, but it was all me. I distracted Sesshomaru just in time for him not to behead you!" Kagome struggled out of Inuyasha's hold while he temporarily loosened his grasp while he digested the fact.

"Then how can your brother do that in the first place?" he asked again.

Kagome sighed, "he's had more practice than me with his dad, but nobody really knows how our family got the powers in the first place. One theory is that the woman who built the shrine was given demon powers by her demon caregiver. Another is that we have very diluted demon blood... and my favorite story is that we are descended from Kamis. But no one really knows for sure." Kagome shrugged and started running the same general direction as before.

Inuyasha followed, seeing that Kagome had finally started to show her fatigue, "are you sure they're demon powers?" he asked, swinging Kagome onto his back.

"I can still run Inuyasha!" Kagome gave his hair a slight tug to accent every syllable, "and yes, I'm positive. There are 500-year-old scrolls talking about it. And what's interesting is that they're written in youkai. How many beings know how to how to write in youkai?" Kagome asked, waving her hands around just enough to prove her point and not lose her balance on Inuyasha's back.

"_We_ live 500 years in the past, how do you know that one of didn't write that scroll?" Inuyasha queried, rubbing his abused scalp.

"Because it doesn't talk about the jewel shards at all. Just a girl that keeps being called 'my Higurashi.' That's how we got the name by the way. I'll show you the scroll once we get home," Kagome said like it was obvious.

"How do you know that it's written in youkai and not some other strange language? And can you even read it?" the scroll had peaked his interest, only royal youkai knew how to write it correctly and still be legible. Inuyasha wasn't that bad at reading both youkai and human, but couldn't write it that well compared to human kanji.

"Ji-chan taught it to me. He may be senile, but he was very stern about my lessons," Kagome grinned at the memory of her tied to a brush and a chair as well as being bribed with her favorite treats. "He was so stubborn, that I learned how to write youkai fluently before even starting school."

Inuyasha skidded to a stop, nearly tossing Kagome over his head, "you can actually write it?" he asked with bulging eyes. That was a shock because the kanji were very complicated and if not done correctly, would be illegible. Good thing Kagome couldn't see his face, but she could smell the disbelief radiating off him.

"Yes, can't you?" Kagome adjusted herself so she could see the side of his face.

"N-no, I never got the chance to learn correctly. And Haha-oya (mother, not in her presence. Then it would be okaa-san) was only human, so she taught me human kanji," Inuyasha whispered, not wanting to announce his lack of knowledge to the world.

Kagome smiled sweetly and hugged Inuyasha lightly from her position on his back, "I may be a bit rusty, but I can show you enough to get by," Kagome offered.

Inuyasha nodded and took a giant leap onto the treetops. Kagome gasped and ten claw-shaped holes into the shoulder of his haori. # Owe! Owe-owe-owe-ow! I thought her fingernails were hard enough before, but her claws are worse! Now we're going south, lets see how Kagome does with directions # "test number two: how do we get home?" Inuyasha asked, balancing Kagome on a branch that would support both their weights.

"Umm... I..." Kagome looked around, trying to see any clue of Tokyo.

"You're doing it wrong already. First things first, what direction are we facing? Look at the position of the sun if you need help," Inuyasha turned her head with both his hands to face due south.

"Umm?" Kagome was born a city girl, she hadn't been taught this ever, mostly because she never went camping in the "modern" times.

"Ok, fine. I know I should have taught you this a long time ago, but here it is: the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Its not hard to remember, I use the reminder that Sesshomaru will be the fall of the western kingdom," Inuyasha and Kagome couldn't help but grin at the thought, and Kagome silently committed it to memory.

"Ok," Kagome said hesitantly.

"and it's early afternoon now..."

"yes"

"so... what direction are we facing?" Inuyasha asked, hoping that his little lesson was actually working.

"umm..." he was ready with an exasperated sigh.

"south?" Kagome answered with complete confusion in her eyes.

Inuyasha swallowed his sigh with relief, "is that a question or an answer?" he asked, sounding like one of Kagome's past math teachers.

Kagome took a deep breath and tried to pock up Tokyo's main scent: pollution with a splash of carbon monoxide. What all major cities would smell like Kagome and Inuyasha would eventually find out. The scent stuck out like a sore thumb in comparison to the deep woods that they were in now. "Tokyo's that way, isn't it?" Inuyasha nodded at his 'student' and offered his back to ride. She accepted reluctantly and they were back on the road again, so to say.

"Hey, Inuyasha," Kagome said, her breath tickling Inuyasha's cheek.

"Hmm," he acknowledged, not slowing down at all.

"You said it was early afternoon right?" she asked, looking up at the trees covering their sight of the blue sky.

"Yes," Inuyasha responded, trying to think of how to test Kagome next.

"We haven't had lunch today... so I was thinking... how about me taking you to WacDanlds? (Japanese version of McDonalds)"

"What's that some sort of demon or something?" Inuyasha asked skeptical of the unfamiliar word.

Kagome grinned, a plan forming in her head, "no, it's a restaurant. A place where your food is made for you. How about you teach me how to survive in your time, and I'll show you how to live in my time without getting killed, deal?" Inuyasha was shocked by Kagome's choice of words describing her time, but nodded all the same.

The truth was, he was distracted by memories of his past experiences in her strange world and sped up slightly as if to run away from what Kagome called 'cars'. If they wanted to get home before dark, he would have to run fast. A comfortable silence was met as they mentally prepared their lesson plans for each other. Inuyasha thought of things like swordsmanship and hunting while Kagome thought of dancing and learning how to cook something beside ramen. Let's face it, both of them were hungry because they didn't get to eat for the better part of the day.

Kagome spoke up again once they entered Tokyo, "I have to get my money before we go, and hats, we don't want to stand out." Kajima eyed the red fabric beneath her, "and maybe you should change into some clothes from my time." At that, Inuyasha tensed, he remembered last time that he was stuffed into something called a school uniform. That experience was so stiff, that he could barely walk.

Kagome saw his shoulders tense and she started working them, "don't worry, I think mom got you better clothes this time," she said, remembering his school uniform ruination. " at least they were cheaper than regular clothes." Kagome looked up just in time to see Inuyasha land right in front of a car to take his next leap, "ahh! Inuyasha look out! Stick to the roofs please! Anyway, trust me, she's best friends with the sales clerk by now. And she knows your size now," her attempts were in vain as Inuyasha took two bounds to clear the Torii gates at the top of the steps.

"I'm not wearing that you-nee-form again!" Inuyasha said, stumbling over the word slightly.

"I know. And its spring break anyway. No one in their right mind would wear one this week. I'm just wondering what mom bought you," Kagome slid down his back and let the way to the back door to the kitchen.

They didn't even notice a startled Ji-chan pulling out fake oufdas as they were distracted by what Inuyasha's outfit would be. # I hope its something like those guys on 'bikes.' Kagome said that they were in a 'motorcycle gang' whatever that is. # Inuyasha thought, envisioning himself in black leather silver-studded chaps and a leather jacket. Kagome, in turn, envisioned Inuyasha with a hair cut in Inu's clothes from her dream: a red polo shirt and a pair of tan slacks. (do you guys see the connection now?!?)

Their feet led them past Gin and through the kitchen to Kagome's room. "did you two have any lunch while you were out?" was the question left hanging in the air as the two teens left the room.

Kagome went straight to her closet to look for her long-unused purse buried under survival gear for Feudal Japan. Inuyasha flopped down on the bed and closed his eyes, letting his ears do all the work. He heard Gin walk up the stairs and stop at the door to watch her daughter. "MOM!!!" Kagome yelled loud enough for Gin to hear- if she was downstairs and out on the shrine grounds- not just outside of her room. Inuyasha flinched violently at the sudden noise and flattened his ears.

"What is it sweetie?" Gin asked softly, dodging various survival objects that Kagome was throwing out of her closet. Kagome abruptly stopped and looked out the miniature room, not expecting her mother to be so close so fast.

"Oi, Kagome! Use your ears next time, she was just outside the door!" Inuyasha yelled back, slowly relaxing again from his battle ready position on the bed.

"Thank you Inuyasha. Now, what do you want honey?" Gin said, walking into the closet with Kagome (yes! She has a walk-in! a smaller walk-in, but a walk-in nonetheless! (at least in my story) I WANT ONE!) careful that she didn't step on anything.

"Mom, do you know where my purse is?" Kagome gave the most hopeless look she could muster and gin grinned.

"Do you mean this purse Kagome-dear?" Gin reached behind Kagome's head to a hanging blue purse and put it in her daughter's hands.

"Ah. Hehehe...thanks mom," Kagome said, bowing her head in a submissive behavior.

Inuyasha peeked into the closet and saw some clothes on hangers that were definitely not Kagome's. and from the few and far-between times that he had actually been able to see in the closet, those clothes weren't there before. Inuyasha grabbed a red T-shirt and held it up to read. He was unfamiliar with the kanji, so he held it for Kagome to read, "oi Kagome! It think this is one of the shirts that your mom got me."

Kagome and Gin turned around to face the hanyou and the shirt that he was holding up. The two women cracked identical grins as Gin patted Kagome on the shoulder, "I leave you to get Inuyasha dressed. I picked some shirts that I thought would be appropriate and some loose jeans. Have fun you two!" at that, Gin left to do some work around the house.

If possible, Kagome was redder than Inuyasha's haori after she read the kanji: "I don't bow to anyone!" And in smaller print: "except my girlfriend. Please don't hit me!" # that's my mom for ya # Kagome thought as she grabbed the shirt and hung it back up.

She went through nearly all of the shirts until she found one that said dog vs. dog in gray with two bulldogs standing on top of the kanji facing each other and snarling. Kagome held up the blue shirt and pretended to eye it for a fit. Kagome also handed Inuyasha a pair of baggy black jeans and a belt. Behind the shirts, Kagome found her father's black leather jacket that Gin apparently wanted Inuyasha to wear to complete the look. Kagome pointed the way to the bathroom for Inuyasha to change.

After about twenty minutes and more cursing than Kagome thought Inuyasha knew, he came out and held his arms out for Kagome to approve. Kagome nodded in approval and showed off her outfit also. She was wearing a light blue peasant blouse and blue jeans that were ripped at the ends. A sky pattern bandanna hid her ears. Inuyasha nodded also and led the way downstairs.

Gin looked up as the young couple entered the kitchen, Inuyasha rubbing his wrist where the sleeve was elastic. She nodded in approval as she handed Inuyasha a baseball cap and waving them out the door.

"Dare I say, we almost look like a normal human couple," Kagome laughed lightly as she readjusted her purse strap so it was in front of her.

"Normal? This is normal for your time?" Inuyasha asked, slumping to try to blend in with the crowd, but still stood out with his shocking white hair that reflected the light blue of his shirt slightly.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. After spending so much time with you and the others, I don't really feel like I fit in either. WacDanlds is just down the street and, hopefully, we won't run into anyone from school," Kagome set her lips in a grim line and turned the corner to the restaurant.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Kagome ordered a chicken salad and Inuyasha ordered a Big Wac (Big Mac (a.k.a. big whack. Yeah, from Kagome later)). They left without anything major and then Kagome turned the corner straight into a familiar boy's chest.

"Hey Higurashi! are you feeling any better from your aids episode? Are you sure you should be out of bed?" came an all too familiar voice from Hojo.

Kagome started hearing a subtle growling from her date...

* * *

What will happen next? I don't know even.

If you know any other hanyou Kagome stories, please tell me.

Kagome is going to get a weapon in one of the future chapters from Inuyasha, I'm thinking of calling it Suki Tessen. It means iron-ribbed fan of love. If you have any better ideas, please tell me. (or at least a better name!)

Please review! Dark Inu Fan


	14. scrolls of a hidden past

What to do with no homework and nothing in tv? type up my story for my fans! Yes, I think of you guys all the time and I hope you don't mind a sess/rin chapter. (trying to pleabargain with some of my personal friends and I was thinking as I typed.) 

Disclaimer: do I really have to say it after 14 chapters? Because you can't MAKE ME!!! (lawyers appear from garage door behind me, tapping their feet expectantly) Hehehe... I do not own Inuyasha and crew.

* * *

Chapter 14: scrolls of a hidden past

Last time: The rest of the trip was uneventful. Kagome ordered a chicken salad and Inuyasha ordered a Big Wac (Big Mac (a.k.a. big whack. Yeah, from Kagome later)). They left without anything major and then Kagome turned the corner straight into a familiar boy's chest.

"Hey Higurashi! are you feeling any better from your aids episode? Are you sure you should be out of bed?" came an all too familiar voice from Hojo.

Kagome started hearing a subtle growling from her date. "oh... ah... hi Hojo!" Kagome said, wincing slightly at the pressure that Inuyasha's claws were putting on her shoulder. "this is my boyfriend Inuyasha," she put her hand on Inuyasha's, discreetly relieving the blood flow to her right arm.

"Oh." If possible, Hojo was just dumped. Not just dumped, but put into the food processor and got stuck in the diaper section of the city dump. He only let the emotion show for a second before putting his original facade back on. "I didn't know you were taken. Where did you say you met him again?" he took an interest white hair and golden eyes.

"Umm... I met him in the hospital. Inuyasha was volunteering and we got to talk while he was cleaning my room. We've been seeing each other for about a year now. In fact, next week will be our first anniversary," Kagome put on a cheesy smile and made a show of clinging to Inuyasha's arm. #smooth Higurashi, real smooth # Kagome had been practicing that lie ever since they had learned that Inuyasha could come through the well also.

"Well, it would have been nice to know sooner that you were taken and I wouldn't have tried so hard. And isn't it your birthday next week also?" Hojo cocked his head slightly in a manner that girls couldn't resist, at least most girls.

"Yeah, we met on my birth day, so I'll be spending it with him since it's so special to both of us." Inuyasha grinned smugly mentally # yes, Yes, YES! #

Hojo nodded, pretending to understand and turned to leave, "nice to meet ya, Inuyasha! And Kagome, I'll drop off your present before your birthday!"

"Wait!" Kagome called, running up to the heartbroken boy that she had known since fourth grade.

Hojo turned, "yes?" he asked, flashing one of his million-dollar smiles.

Kagome went slack for a millisecond before remembering what she had wanted to say, "to tell you the truth, I never wanted to be your girlfriend. It was just Eri's crush that she acted out through me. Just as a last request," Kagome smirked, "ask her out on a date, she'd melt all over you!"

Hojo smiled and pulled her into a friendly hug, giving him access to her hidden hanyou ears. "I know you are Lady Kagome and just ask me and I'll give you and Lord Inuyasha some concealing rings. And Inuyasha is getting possessive and is about to rip my throat out. Oh, and tell my dad hi for me!" Hojo let Kagome go as Inuyasha yanked the back of his brown shirt. He gave a wolfish grin and quietly slipped out of Inuyasha's grasp. Letting his demonic aura flash for a second, Hojo waved goodbye, "goodbye Kagome, and as my dad used to say: see ya later mutt-face!"

Inuyasha went red-faced as Kagome started to laugh, "that explains a lot!" if she didn't get the clues before hand, the Inuyasha reference sealed the proof. "lets go look at those scrolls now." That sobered Inuyasha up as Kagome started to walk the opposite direction of Hojo, towards the shrine. Inuyasha groaned following the girl hanyou, learning to read and write was never his strong suit.

* * *

"Here it is! 'journals to my Higurashi by... uh, I was never able to figure out that Hiragana (characters using syllables instead of letters like English)," Kagome pointed to the characters and Inuyasha recognized them immediately.

"I actually know that one. It says 'western lord Sesshomaru' I can read names and that's about it. And when I was learning, that's the second one that I learned aside my name," Kagome nodded and opened the scroll further. What could Sesshomaru be doing, writing a journal to a person he called Higurashi. 'Sunset' didn't really make any sense at the time and Kagome highly doubted that it would anytime soon. "are you going to read anytime soon, or are we not going to find out what my brother had to do with your ancestor?" Inuyasha went back to his stubborn ways and pulled the scroll out of Kagome's hands.

"hey! I was going to read it, but I wanted to think about the connection first. Remember that little girl that follows Sesshomaru around? I think she called herself Rin at one point. What if I am related to her at all?" they shuddered at the thought, Rin and Sesshomaru. That was just a little too close for comfort. Kagome took a deep breath, "here it goes:

_spring time, the humans have started their planting, the crescent moon is tonight and I am most spiritually powerful. By tonight, I will do the ceremony and you will have the choice to join me forever or not. You, my Higurashi, found the first flowers of spring this morning and also the first bees of spring also. Your reaction to the sting has me worried. Humans are so vulnerable to many trivial things and I do not want you to die at such a young age. This ceremony will enable you to have my abilities, but you can still disguise and blend in with other humans if you wish so. _

_Your reaction to my question during your noon meal was quite promising for a human of your age. The question was if you could be like me, would you? You said yes and that you feel better because you would not leave me alone. My Higurashi, you keep surprising me every day. Things that I do not expect form you or other humans you do. Not every human- or demon- cares for an injured demon. At first when I found you dead by wolves, I felt it a duty to revive you to pay you back. But now I find that I have grown, should I say, a connection with you. And it would be a deep loss to lose you to the human life span._

_This ceremony is called the sharing of blood and what will happen is that I will let you mix your blood with mine and would have to drink it mixed with sake. Though I fear you are too young for the sake, it must be done that way or you would have more of a chance to not accept the spell. Your age is to the point where if I waited any longer, your body would stand the chance to reject the changes. I am writing this down so you, and I, will have a better time to accept my reasoning._

_I look down and see you sleeping, tomorrow being another day. The bee sting truly worried me even if I did not show it. I know from experiences from being a pup, sleep can cure most illnesses. Once you wake up, I will do the ceremony and, hopefully, we will not be bothered in the moonlight. So I am letting you sleep during the day so you will not be tired tonight. You wake up now..._

"Sesshomaru-sama? What are you doing up in that tree?" a ten year old Rin asks, rubbing her eye with her slightly swollen hand. The bee from earlier had stung her on the wrist and thus swelled up her forearm and hand.

He looked down and smiled one of his rare, hidden smiles for a mere second. "I am looking out so you do not get injured while you are resting. We will have to travel fast of we are to reach my castle by nightfall," he said in his usual monotone voice before jumping down to wrap Rin flush against his back with his tail (raspberries in this fic, the fluffy thing that Sesshy lugs around is his tail!).

Rin snuggled into her living blanket before smiling. It was rare that Sesshomaru carried her this way, and she liked the treat. They had not taken Jaken or Ah-Un with them for a form of, what she felt like, father-daughter bonding in the middle of the Western Lands.

In truth, Sesshomaru didn't trust his servants with Rin's life and he needed some semi-alone time to think and write in the journal that he had started soon after he had revived Rin. No one knew of the journal besides Rin and himself, and he preferred it that way. One day, he knew, Rin would die and he wanted a way to remember her short life with him.

"Rin," he waited until he heard a response from the woman-child on his back, "try to rest for tonight. I have a bit of a... surprise for you after dark and I don't want you falling asleep in the middle." He felt Rin's head nod and heard a great yawn from her. She had fallen asleep again and the demon lord tried to keep his running steps as smooth as possible. # my Higurashi, my sunset, you are as beautiful and innocent as one and I do not want to lose you to time. I hope you will forgive me eventually #

* * *

"well, that's a different side of Sesshomaru than I thought he had," Kagome commented, looking Inuyasha in the eye to see his reaction. He looked rather bored, successfully covering the interest of his brother's plans.

"keep reading wench, lets see if my brother's plan worked," Kagome nodded, letting the name-calling slip just this once with just a killing look.

* * *

_The dish that I had made was not used for anything else and will never be used again except for your health. My best craftsman made this dish and the sake that I will use is special because it was made the day I brought you back to my life and I personally packed it away. Your kimono is the most special silk in the lands and you will be able to wear it always. _

"Rin, come here," Sesshomaru waited for the drowsy girl by her linen closet and as she turned her head to her lord, he pulled out a kimono of white and silver that would rival his own hair. The sight of the kimono woke the girl up as she squealed in delight and hugged his waist.

"thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rin held the robe up to herself and examined how it would flow off her front not quite showing womanhood.

Sesshomaru kneeled down to be face-to-face with Rin. The dusk's light illuminated his stern face, "Rin, be very careful with this kimono and wear it to the garden when you are done getting dressed. Tonight is very special and I do not want you to be dirty when the ceremony begins," with that Rin nodded and Sesshomaru turned to leave, having one of the servants help the girl get dressed.

"there you go Rin, now don't ruin it when you go outside. I believe that Sesshomaru-sama is waiting for you," the servant girl said as she pulled the last loop tight on Rin's pale purple obi. The servant was the only one that treated Rin as a friend and not as the lord's charge or ningen scum. She looked about Rin's age, so Rin was comfortable with the demoness.

Rin bowed to the servant and sped out the door, careful not to rip the hems or drag the back into the dirt. "Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin yelled to announce her presence. He was in Rin's favorite flower garden and she grinned up with her eyes sparkling.

Sesshomaru led Rin to a bench with his usual confident body posture, but Rin caught the flicker of intense worry in his eyes. "are you..." Sesshomaru put a finger on her lips to silence her and looked up to the moon. Rin followed his gaze and saw Sesshomaru's crescent glow slightly. Her eyes went wide in amazement as he initiated a stare-down against Rin. After what seemed like an eternity, he nodded and grabbed a kunai ((throwing knife) I wanted to go with one of those curved blades that the name starts with an 'a' but I couldn't remember how to spell it and its European, not Japanese) and Rin's hand.

"this is going to hurt a little and you have to do the same thing to me next. I promise that we will not regret this later," Rin could hear the pain in his voice as he positioned the blade over her palm and made a crescent-shaped cut while she was distracted. It was shallow enough to heal quickly, but enough to let her blood drip into the purple-tinged sake bowl. He held her hand until there was about a teaspoon in the dish, then pressed his finger on the wound to let the blood clot to close it.

During this time, Rin barely felt anything but interest at what the demon was doing with her blood. after Sesshomaru wrapped her hand in a clean bandage, he asked himself why she didn't scream or do anything to show pain. Either she was a very stupid ningen... or a very trusting girl. "are you feeling any pain?" he asked, keeping his thumb over the wound to keep it from opening. Rin shook her head and he continued, "now, you have to do the same thing to me. Don't worry because you will not hurt me," he said, pushing the small weapon into her uninjured hand.

Rin took a deep breath and pressed the tip to Sesshomaru's outstretched hand. She didn't have the courage or strength to injure her lord, so after a minute, he gripped her hand and pressed the blade into his palm. The blood pooled and Rin directed it to the sake dish to mix with hers.

After the amount of blood in the dish had doubled, Rin pressed her finger on the wound to close and it did instantly. Sesshomaru grabbed the sake bottle that was resting beside his leg and poured some in with the blood. using the kunai, he stirred the three ingredients until it looked roughly like cranberry juice. The crescent moon reflected in the potion as he lifted it up to his lips to take a small taste. Satisfied that the potion was done correctly, he held it up for Rin to drink.

"Drink it, trust me," Rin looked at the dish uncertainly as Sesshomaru pressed it to her lips. She took a small sip and made a face. It was sour tasting and was making her drowsy. "drink it all before you fall asleep Rin, or the spell won't work for you," he pushed the saucer up to her lips again. She finished the potion off with half-lidded eyes and fell forward, asleep, onto Sesshomaru's chest.

_I could feel the changes almost immediately as I carried you up to your futon to sleep. So far, your body was not rejecting the potion, but the next day will be the real test. The physical changes were almost as immediate as your new scent. Visible streaks of a silver showed in your hair as well as your ears pointing. The point is not enough to notice, but is there. Gladly, you still look human if you were to leave me. _

_I could feel changes also, but not as much as you were undoubtedly feeling in your sleep. Understanding for one. For the first time, I felt what has only been described as a human emotion by other demons. I think you call it being happy and content. Yes, we demons have this emotion, but only after battle and only for a short time. Not enough to notice...

* * *

_

"well, that explains a lot. I think that makes enough sense to be satisfied for now. I remember when my grandma was still alive, she only had to dye streaks of her hair black whenever she went out. And even if it was a permanent dye, it would be gone by the time she got back home!" Kagome watched as Inuyasha resisted the urge to bolt down the well and yell at his brother.

"don't worry, Inuyasha, my grandmother was not Rin. Just a descendent that inherited the whole hair streak fiasco, it pops up every once in a while when our health is threatened. Mom's hair was especially bad during the last month of carrying Souta, he was a pain since before he was even born!" Kagome smirked and Inuyasha couldn't help but to smirk back.

Inuyasha caught an evil glint in Kagome's eye and really bolted this time, "sit!" he landed face first in the stone a mere twenty feet from freedom. "don't think I didn't remember your calligraphy lesson Inuyasha!" Kagome said as she straddled his back and sat down. Her sensitive ears could hear the boy-hanyou whimpering at the thought of school work. "yeah, yeah, that's what I think about school also. And neither of us can get away from it whether we want to or not.

Inuyasha stopped whimpering at the line 'get away from it' he grinned wickedly. "stay" was all he said and the extra weight was lifted off his back. He took off running to the well and made it to jump into the well when a sit beat him to the chase and plummeted him down to the dirt below in the feudal era.

The thud was felt down in the village and startled Shippou out of his daydream of what was in Inuyasha's package to look the direction of the well. "I think lady Kagome and Inuyasha are back and she already sat him," Miroku said with as straight of a face as he could muster. The others in the room didn't have as much control and broke out laughing, a moment later Miroku joined them.

"I'm free!" a male voice came from the direction of the well, coming closer. A moment later, the inhabitants with demon hearing heard the same voice, only quieter, "uh-oh."

"Inuyasha come back here! I don't care if you don't want to, you will learn sometime whether you like it or not!" Kagome's voice came from the same direction as Inuyasha skidded into the hut, grabbing Sango's shoulders to stop himself from crashing into the far wall. The scenario couldn't help but to crack the group up again.

Once they sobered up, Miroku started talking in a parental way, "now, now Inuyasha, how dignified is it to hide behind ladies skirts?"

Inuyasha puffed his chest up and stepped out from behind Sango, "feh, I..."

"Inuyasha I know you're in there and your going to learn your calligraphy now!" Kagome stepped in holding one of those pen-things and a stack of paper. Inuyasha deflated and crouched behind Sango, somehow believing that he would turn invisible behind the taiji-ya's skirt. Kagome assessed the position of her friends before her eyes landed on Inuyasha and Shippou. "real mature Inuyasha. Ok, I'm going to teach both of you most likely, won't I?"

Shippou puffed up and stood his full two feet, "daddy taught me already! I don't need teaching!"

Kagome kneeled down to the kit's eye level and handed him a pen and a piece of paper. "ok, show me what you know. That's a pen and it works just like your colored pencils that I gave you. Start with your name." Kagome watched the young boy screw up his face and put the pen to paper. He put down a couple of scribbles before holding it up to Kagome to inspect. "nice try Shippou," Kagome looked up at Inuyasha, "I guess you'll have a classmate after all." The look on Inuyasha and Shippou's face's were identical: mortified.

* * *

Okay, a little Sesshomaru/Rin in this chapter and a little humor in the end to make up for it. I think this is a new record for me: updating twice in the same week! Yay. Update because I want 200 reviews for chapter 15! See y'all next time. dark


	15. Kagome's new clothes

To all my readers that got confused and/or concerned last chapter: Inuyasha and Kagome are NOT related. What Sesshomaru did was a demonic version of a formal adoption. All that really happened is that she was given enough demon blood to give her and all of her descendents protection and an added element to her scent that tells other youkai that she's protected by a powerful youkai (fluffy). And if that powerful youkai is not present, she has a power now that is like energy claws. Now that that's out of the way, lets get on with the story!

PS: if anyone ever brings up the idea of Rin and Sesshomaru becoming mates, I will personally kill of all characters in the battle with Naraku and end this story! That's like you marrying your parents! Can you say eww?

Disclaimer: like the flame of my favorite candle melts the wax, it melts my chances of owning Inuyasha. (and I don't even have the movie! Wah!)

* * *

Chapter 15: Kagome's new clothes

Last time: "I guess you'll have a classmate after all." The look on Inuyasha and Shippou's face's were identical: mortified.

This time: they had been on the road for two days now going towards the south-west lands on Kagome's idea of attempting to see what her father was like 500 years before she was even born. "is this right Kagome-okaa-san?" Shippou asked, holding up a piece of paper with the kit's attempts at his own name all over it. She mentally thanked her mother for packing a ream of blank paper in her backpack as she pulled the kit into her lap.

"which one are you talking about?" she asked as Shippou pointed out the characters in the lower corner that were still wet. Kagome looked closely and then grinned #finally # she thought as she patted him on the head. "that's correct. Now, do you know your title at all?" Shippou shook his head no. Kagome looked him up and down and finally looked at his eyes. "we can change that. I recently learned a spell that would let me adopt you on demon terms. Do you know what it is?"

"do you mean the sharing of blood? isn't that dangerous for you since your only half-demon?" Shippou asked, looking up at his mother. Kagome looked up at Inuyasha, mentally pleading for help from the older hanyou (yeah, he's older. Kagome's turning 16 and I think Inuyasha is about... oh...1,016 years old. How I'm thinking about this is once hanyous reach puberty (about 16), their aging slows to about 500 human years is 1 hanyou year. And 1,000 human years is one youkai year. So Sesshomaru is about 4,020 years old.).

Inuyasha jumped down from the branch he was sitting on to stand by Kagome, "its even dangerous for demons. It can be fatal if not done on the night that they are most powerful. And if my math is correct, two halves equals a whole," Inuyasha nodded down at the kit, hinting at his approval for the adoption. "now, since your so curious at what I've been lugging around the past couple of days and I know that you've been all over it," Inuyasha tapped his nose, "bring the package over here and give it to Kagome."

This peaked everyone's curiosity as Sango looked up from her ramen cup and Miroku forgot about groping the eating woman, his hand hovering in mid-air. "yes Inuyasha, what is in that package that you insist on carrying?" he asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Keh," Inuyasha said as he lifted Shippou and the package, that was twice as big as him, and carried them the last five meters across camp to be dropped unceremoniously in Kagome's lap. "happy birthday," he said as he sat Indian-style against the tree to watch Kagome tentatively open the huge bundle wrapped in brown cloth.

The brown dropped away to show a bright green and orange pile in the firelight. Kagome fingered the cloth and picked up the top to show a stylized women's haori with orange flowers edging the sleeves and neckline. Everyone's (except Inuyasha's) jaw dropped at the jacket. Shippou reached out halfway to the clothing before drawing his hand back and looking to his adoptive father for permission. Inuyasha gave a short nod and Shippou jumped onto Kagome's arm to admire the cloth better. "its so pretty Kagome-okaa-san! Why don't you try it on! It's so soft and smooth!" Kagome smiled and mentally agreed with her son.

"lightening moth silk, put it on and we start your training tomorrow. Your clothes may be normal in your time, but, as you say, they stick out like a sore thumb here," He said as monotonic as he could, sounding scarily like his older brother Sesshomaru.

* * *

Speaking of Sesshomaru...

He hadn't moved for the past two days, # she should have been up by now, perhaps her body is rejecting the spell? # though it didn't show physically, Sesshomaru was worried about his daughter. He had sent all of his servants away from Rin's wing of the castle so they wouldn't know anything amiss until he publicly announced the adoption.

Sesshomaru turned away from his paperwork as he heard the sound of Rin's breathing change pattern to show that she would wake up soon. "Kowashi (little eagle), go to the kitchens and have the servants prepare a meal for Rin." He ordered Rin's personal servant, the only one allowed into Rin's wing this whole time. The first time that Sesshomaru had brought Rin to his castle, he went through his mental roster of all his faithful servants and picked Kowashi. She was very protective of whatever she was put in charge of and, unlike other youkai, loved humans. And the eagle-demon was about Rin's height so they were comfortable around each other.

"do you want anything Sesshomaru-sama?" the demoness asked, bowing in the doorway before leaving.

"some green tea with sake mixed in. the kitchen servants know what I mean." He said, inwardly groaning at the letters that he had to finish by the end of the week to the lesser lords of the west. Kowashi bowed herself out and ran to the kitchens.

Sesshomaru watched the servant leave then slouched over to touch his forehead on the edge of Rin's four poster bed (I know, I know, how western of a bedroom it is to have a four poster bed. I DON'T CARE!). Good thing he didn't wear his metal armor around the castle, or bending over Rin's bed would have been impossible. Sesshomaru could feel a headache coming on because of having to do so much paperwork in his spare time. The reason he went on 'patrol' so much was because he did everything he could to get away from the dreaded parchments.

A small hand slid over the covers and patted Sesshomaru on the head. "what's the matter Sesshomaru-sama?" came a voice, jolting the relatively young lord out of his thoughts. His head shot up to look at his charge-turned-daughter.

He got a stranglehold on his facial features before responding, "did you sleep well Rin?" not the best response in the world to the 10-year-old, but typical Sesshomaru.

"oh, yes Sesshomaru-sama! Rin had a weird dream though. Rin had turned demon and had pretty white hair like Sesshomaru-sama! Rin had claws and they glowed blue! It was so pretty! And then a strange lady in green showed up and told Rin that she would be very powerful and that the lady was one of Rin's de-desombance..."

"descendents," the lord corrected.

"yeah that! And then the lady showed Rin a pretty temple and a family that lived there. There was a little boy holding a rice cutter, an old priest, the strange lady, and... and the pretty lady in the small kimono that travels with Inuyasha!" they both turned thoughtful at that.

# why would Inuyasha's wench be in Rin's dream? And who were the others? # Sesshomaru thought before Kowashi interrupted by opening the shoji screen and placing a platter of food and a brewing teakettle on the low table that was currently covered with paperwork.

She looked at Sesshomaru-sama for permission to speak, he nodded and the servant girl went up to Rin and started talking faster than most people could understand. "oh, I was so worried! You were asleep for two whole days and I thought that you'd never wake up! Don't ever scare me like that again Rin!" Kowashi gave the girl a hug and placed a platter of food beside the bed. "you must be hungry now, so eat!"

Rin nodded hungrily and grabbed her bowl of rice soup, Sesshomaru grabbed his tea/sake and turned back to his paperwork. # oh, goody. I guess I have to invite Inuyasha since he is _prince _of the western lands # Sesshomaru thought sourly. Inuyasha had not been present for the last 55 years for the spring ball and it was required for all the royalty in the west to attend at least every 50 years to find out what had been happening. # and for that, I need more sake #

* * *

With inu and co.

"umm... Lady Kagome? Why are we going west? I thought that was Sesshomaru-sama's lands," Miroku asked from his place by the fire, nursing a goose egg that had 'mysteriously' appeared on his head when he stood up to 'use the little boy's bush' soon after Kagome went into the bushes to change into her new clothes.

"they're not Sesshomaru's lands, they belong to the black dog clan. And since I never got to know my father before he died, I'm going to find out if I can meet him when he was 500 years younger. Umm... Sango, can you help me with this tie?" Sango stood up and went into the bush, but not before giving Miroku a warning glare that promised a slow death.

"your black dog? Who's your father?" Sango asked, straightening out the back of Kagome's pants.

"ah... would you believe me if I told you I was heir to the southwest throne?" Kagome shrunk back, trying to seem like a small rock.

"your dad's Reichou!?!" Sango practically screamed.

Kagome covered her ears and whimpered in pain at being in such a close range to her nearly-hyperventilating friend. She was sure that her ears were bleeding and she could hear the faint thump of her mate-to-be falling out of the tree in pain, " yes, now, please be quiet. I think you just reduced my hearing to a human's now. Oww!"

Sango's eyes lit up with worry for her sister/friend as she bent to check on her huddled position. "I'm so sorry Kagome, I forgot about your ears," Sango reached out to try to soothe the ringing appendages, "Where did you find out about your chichi-oya?"

"my mom told me when I grabbed my pack before we left. I wanted to check out the lands for jewels before, but this is just another excuse, I guess." Kagome gave an awkward grin as she stood up, "and since the BOYS CAN HEAR US ALREADY, we can go back into camp and show off my new clothes." Kagome called, giving them a hidden warning before parting the bushes that were hiding them from the male eyes.

Sango followed Kagome into the firelight just in time to see Miroku settle back into his previous seat and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Kagome held her arms up for the boys to inspect the clothes and did a small turn. Shippou's eyes were as big a saucers as he jumped onto Kagome's shoulder to approve the fit and wouldn't shut up about it. Miroku's jaw was slackened, and Inuyasha stood up to inspect Rumiko's handiwork. He tugged here and there to inspect the fit (nowhere inappropriate, you perverts!) and after a strained minute he nodded and went to sit back down. All he verbalized was a "good", but his eyes were going along the line of: "that is the hottest thing that you've ever worn and I hope that you appreciate this armor. the other males better know your mine stay away from you or I will have to tear them limb from limb."

The orange flowers picked up the glow of the fire and seemed to sway on an unseen breeze every time Kagome moved. "there's a skirt and an obi to match and make it a formal kimono when we get to your dad's fortress. You should check to see if it fits also," Inuyasha held up the wrap and belt and a smaller piece of cloth fell out of the folds.

"what's this?" Kagome asked as she held up the mysterious cloth that had fallen out. It was forest green and blue mini haori that looked like it would fit Shippou. And there was a note attached to it:

_"Dear Inuyasha-sama, _(Inuyasha cringed and blushed at the title) _the little kit, Shippou, interested me. From the way you talked about him, it sounded like you and Kagome-hime would adopt him soon. And if there is one tradition that I hope you follow, it would be giving the adoptee a new set of adoption clothing. This clothing is like yours and will grow with him. Please inform me when this happens as well as the other ceremonies. Love Rumiko-san"_

Kagome read the letter out loud and send Inuyasha a suspicious glance as if to ask who Rumiko was and what was she talking about. Inuyasha flushed and held his hands in a defensive manner, "Rumiko was my youkai nanny when I was growing up, that's all. she made my clothes when I was younger, and I went to her for your clothes also!" Inuyasha was shrinking back and preparing for a sitting.

After a minute, Inuyasha looked up at Kagome to see her smiling, "next time we see her, I'll have to thank her." Inuyasha let out his breath and slumped down against the tree. Kagome grabbed the obi and skirt and went into the bush to try out her other change of clothes.

The change looked like a one-piece kimono and the obi hid the separation between the two. The skirt had flowers on the bottom half ranging from red to orange to yellow with the same green background as the top. And the obi was orange with green leaves to contrast the kimono. Kagome showed the pack briefly and changed back into her pants.

She plopped down next to Inuyasha and stared into the flames. Miroku decided to speak after the spell of silence, "Kagome-hime, you look beautiful in your armor and I hope that you will forgive me for not having a gift for you."

"you don't have to call me princess, its like Inuyasha being called lord, its just creepy and I'm not used to it. And its fine that you don't have a present for me, you all traveling with me is a gift enough." Kagome smiled and observed her small pack. # wait a minute! Pack? Where did that come from? # Kagome took another look around, # I guess that's right. its small, for now, but will have to do. # she leaned up to Inuyasha and he started subconsciously untangling her hair. Shippou curled up on her lap and she closed her eyes, a dog-like purr resounding throughout her chest.

Inuyasha stopped for a second, pinpointing the new sound. With noticing Kagome making the mothering sound, he moved his claws to her ears and the furthest away from Shippou that he could and still touching Kagome. He knew from experience that when females went into this mode, they were aware of every movement around her pup, if not anything else, and wouldn't let anything touch them while they slept. # great. I'm stuck and if I try to move, I'll get torn to shreds # "Kagome, Kagome? Can you move to your sleeping bag so..." # I hope this works # "...Shippou won't get cold."

Kagome cracked an eye open and let loose a jaw-cracking yawn, "If you say so. Do you want to sleep with us or get a blanket?" Kagome mumbled, crawling over to her backpack and unrolling her sleeping bag all while holding the drowsy kit with one hand. Inuyasha didn't even get the chance to respond as Kagome crawled into the bag and fell back to sleep, tucking Shippou into her front.

Inuyasha sighed and nodded for the others to follow suit. He grabbed a red felt blanket and packed Shippou's new set of clothes into Kagome's pack in its place. He remembered that Gin had given Inuyasha the blanket during 'Christmas', whatever that was, and told him that it would keep him warm. The truth was, Gin had sewn Kagome's pillowcase into the edges so it would smell like her all the time and it helped Inuyasha sleep sometimes.

A hand reached for his ankle as he passed Kagome's sleeping form, "G'ni' (goodnight) Inu," came her sleeping voice as he looked down. She drew her hand back and Inuyasha drew his claws through her hair in response. Tonight he would sleep on the ground with the rest, but only after the others went to sleep.

"good night Inuyasha," Miroku said as he cast one last glance at his someday prize and put his head down. Sango rolled her eyes at the monk and said the same thing.

Inuyasha nodded and jumped into the tree above Kagome with the red blanket. Staring up into the stars reminded him of a story his mother had told him when he was little:

* * *

(now for a Lion King moment! And no, I don't own them later)

"Inuyasha, did you know that your father is up there? In the stars?" Iyazoi asked, holding her young son close so he wouldn't get cold on his human night.

"where mamma? Can he see me?" the young boy in red asked, following his mother's pointing finger with his eyes.

"yes he can see you, all the time, so don't do anything bad or he'll have to punish you. And he's up there in that group of stars. If you use your imagination, you can see him biting into a snake demon and killing it." She pointed out the shapes and after a while Inuyasha could see it too. "your never alone in this world, we'll always be there for you, in spirit or holding you tight," Iyazoi gave the boy a quick squeeze,

"God loves you

go to him

he loves you  
repent of sin

he loves you

you know he does  
with all his heart  
so ask him in  
and never part  
you'll go to the stars  
and see him there  
welcoming you in  
ask him in, believe that your daddy died for you  
and you'll live for ever, in the stars

go to the Lord  
he'll always love you

no matter what you do  
no matter what you've done go to him  
repent all sin, (any)  
accept him into your heart  
and you will never part  
he loves you, now love him in return  
your daddy really did die for you, he really did rise from the dead  
he really is the perfect and final sacrifice for sin, if you repent"

"that's such a pretty song Inu," Kagome mumbled in her sleep and knocked him out of the memory, the boy hadn't even noticed that he was singing out loud. Inuyasha let out one of his unguarded smiles and looked up into the moon, # tomorrow's the half moon, I hope your prepared Kagome # Inuyasha warned mentally and settled into sleep.

* * *

THANK YOU FOR THE POEM FIRST-CHAIR-FLUTE! I LOVED IT! Sorry for changing it a little bit, but I wanted to use it and have it make sense to Inuyasha, he doesn't exactly know who Jesus is. And if anyone wants to check the original out, go to my reviews chapter 1(might be chapter 2) or e-mail me.

It's late at night and doesn't it show in this chapter? Sorry for the wait because I really didn't feel like righting this chapter. Reichou is Kagome's biological father and we will meet him eventually. His name means leader with miraculous powers and it fits him well. I will update sooner if you review and give me suggestions!


	16. demon day part I

Thanks to all my reviewers! I have over 240 reviews! I've been making my All Hollows' Eve costume and so I'm typing in a kimono right now. And it's surprisingly comfortable! Its teal with midnight blue edging. The only things I can complain about are the sleeves. They get caught on everything! Well, that's all I really have to say right now, so read on!

Disclaimer: I own a candle and a set of sewing needles, that's it!

::canine-speech:: -sound effects- "verbal" #mental # (peanut gallery)

* * *

Chapter 16: demon day part I.

Last time: "that's such a pretty song Inu," Kagome mumbled in her sleep and knocked him out of the memory, the boy hadn't even noticed that he was singing out loud. Inuyasha let out one of his unguarded smiles and looked up into the moon, # tomorrow's the half moon, I hope your prepared Kagome # Inuyasha warned mentally and settled into sleep.

This time: "Lady Sango, wake up! Lady Sango?" Miroku whispered, shaking the young taijiya awake. The only response that he got was a hand weakly swatting his away from her shoulder. For once, he was the first one awake in the morning and he felt that Sango should see the position of their hanyou friends. # please don't kill me for this and wake them up # he prayed to whatever gods were up at this hour and placed one hand on Sango's mouth and the other on her, ahem, other end.

-rub-

Sango was just getting to the good part of the dream and was mere inches from kissing...

-rub-

"mfokofuf kef fyouef femm homsch osf mei aah!" Sango screamed through Miroku's hand and sat straight up. (for those who really want to know: Miroku get your damn hands off my ass!) Miroku's eyes went wide as he used his offending hand to make the universal quieting symbol. He looked over at the couple and let out his held breath at them still sleeping. Miroku looked Sango in the eye and pointed at the hanyous.

Sango looked at Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippou and awed. "I would have sworn that Inuyasha went to sleep up in the tree last night!" Sango whispered, getting an ear flick from Inuyasha, who was luckily still asleep.

"true, he was in the tree above Lady Kagome when we went to bed last night. His blanket is still up there. But do you notice anything different with lady Kagome, Sango?" Miroku asked, going to Kagome's pack to get the tools for breakfast out.

"her inu ears are gone! Is she human?" Sango asked, covering her mouth with her shock. Miroku looked up from re-starting the fire and gave her the quiet symbol again.

"no, her ears are pointed. She is demon." Miroku said as solemnly as he could. Sango moved closer to take a better look as Miroku poured some water in a pot to make 'oatmeal' as Kagome called it. Sango got as close as two meters before Kagome reacted.

Kagome, who was still asleep, pulled Shippou closer and pulled back into Inuyasha's arms, who in turn, pulled Kagome closer. Inuyasha cracked a golden eye open and looked through Kagome's hair at Sango. He growled slightly as a warning and dug his nose into Kagome's neck in a calming fashion. Sango nodded slightly and backed off to sit just out of reach of Miroku's roving hands. Inuyasha closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Miroku, who had watched the whole episode, decided to comment, "I would suggest not doing that again while they're asleep. That was just a warning and next time you could get hurt."

"I know that was a warning. But, do you think she's sane like this? I mean when Inuyasha..." Sango trailed off, it was a painful subject for all of them, especially Inuyasha.

"let us hope so, Sango my dear," Miroku said, giving the soupy breakfast a stir.

Inuyasha's nose twitched, and again. He had been awakened by the others talking, no matter how quiet it had been, and now he smelled breakfast. Oatmeal. How Kagome liked the stuff, he never knew. He opened his eyes slowly, taking in the morning air. Wait a minute! there was a new smell near the camp that smelled of juniper incense. Inuyasha sniffed again and remembered: Kagome turned full demon during the day today! This must be her demonic scent. Nice. "she'd better be sane like this, or I'll need some help. And how Kagome likes that oatmeal crap for breakfast I don't know." Inuyasha tried to pull himself away from Kagome's back, but found himself stuck by Kagome's clawed hand holding his.

Miroku and Sango were surprised at Inuyasha's morning mood and chuckled at his predicament. "I would imagine, Inuyasha, that you have to wake up Lady Kagome if you want to move at all this morning," Miroku commented, knowing he was safe for the time being. Inuyasha tried to pull himself out of Kagome's grasp before just settling for giving the houshi a glare that would promise death if he kept talking.

"feh... Kagome, you have to get up now," no response, # time to pull out the big swards (in our time its big guns) # "oden." The others looked up bewildered as Inuyasha shrugged and mouthed 'her favorite food.'

Kagome, who had been awake the whole time, turned to Inuyasha and gave a loud snort that would hopefully prove that she was still 'asleep.' "that's oatmeal, Inuyasha, that Miroku's making, not oden," she mumbled, smirking mentally and laughing her head off (in her head, they just thought that she was talking in her sleep). That 'hopefully sane' comment had really hurt her and she wanted to prove that she was still herself, only with a demon body, without having to confront them. Hopefully the sleep-mumbling helped.

"fine, its oatmeal. Just let me up!" Inuyasha hissed in her ear. Kagome gave a fake growl and opened her eyes a little, keeping up the 'you woke me up and you'll pay later' act. Inuyasha smirked and tugged his hands, signaling for her to let go. Kagome gave an identical smirk and held on tighter. Well, two can play at that game. Inuyasha stood straight up, dragging Kagome up with him.

"hey! That's not fair!" Kagome yelled, finally letting go and sitting against the boy's legs. Shippou looked up rubbing his eyes and oblivious from the whole situation. All he really registered is that he had been rolled from the warmth of Kagome's body and sleeping bag. Kagome looked down to see the kit give a jaw-cracking yawn. "sorry Shippou, Inuyasha decided to pull me out of bed this morning," Kagome explained, putting emphasis on the word pull.

"now Inuyasha, do you really want to tempt Lady Kagome today?" Miroku asked, handing out the bowls of oatmeal.

"yes, I want to see how well she can fight without any training before I start training her," Inuyasha commented, sickly gagging down the tan crap.

Kagome's eyes were a light shade of pink behind the whites of her eyes, "I can still hear you. Thank you very much. And I've had training before. You've just never let me show you before. 'never judge a book by its cover' is what haha-oya (mother) says all the time," Kagome downed her oatmeal and glared at the two humans, "and that sane comment, was that really necessary?" Kagome rinsed out her bowl and grabbed her hairbrush.

"what sane comment?" that was obviously before he had woken up.

Miroku opened his mouth, but Kagome interjected, "But, do you think she's sane like this? I mean when Inuyasha... is what Sango said. I didn't catch the very end, but you get my point. They don't trust me right now and I understand what they're talking about. We're all wary of each other's uncontrollable characteristics." Kagome looked at Miroku and Sango in turn, bringing up their individual 'weaknesses.' Miroku his Kazaana (more like his wondering hand), and Sango her feelings for her puppet brother. Inuyasha, who sat behind Kagome, also looked down at his memories, or lack there of, of turning demon.

"so..." Shippou started, trying to break the unbearable silence within the group, "why are you demon Kagome-kaa-san?" Shippou winced, preparing for the worse.

Kagome laughed and pulled Shippou into her lap, "I guess Inuyasha and I didn't tell you guys about this, did we?" She paused a second and answered her rhetorical question, "one of the last times that we went back, Inuyasha asked my mom if I had a human night or what. She said that I had a demon day instead. In fact, all day I'll be like this and tonight I'll be in my 'true form' whatever that will look like. Ebbing or swelling of demonic powers, what I'm thinking, depends on what side of the hanyou is dominant. With Inuyasha, it's his human side. And with me, it's my demonic side because I have more than half of my blood that's demonic. In fact, one of my ancestors was adopted by a demon by the formal adoption ceremony and had (has now) demon blood in her. Its not much, but just enough to make it the dominant side."

Miroku nodded, "that makes sense, Lady Kagome, but what would make Inuyasha's human blood dominant?"

"I don't know..."

"I'll tell you, monk. Its because my old man died before he could do the acknowledgement ceremony. So as far as the demonic court cares, I'm the bastard son of one of his ningen (human) concubines. Are you happy now?" Inuyasha folded his hands and put on his stone facade, but Kagome could see the trace amount of moisture around his eyes.

"oh, sorry Inuyasha. I didn't know." Miroku said, looking anywhere except for the red-clad hanyou.

"and you, Kagome-chan? Were you acknowledged?" Sango blurted out before her mind could register what she was asking.

Kagome looked up, "I don't know. I never really got to know my real dad that much. Kashisu kind of drowned out all of his memories," Kagome sighed and Inuyasha winced sympathetically. Then his eyes lit up as she dug for something in his haori. Kagome saw the corner of a photograph and immediately tackled Inuyasha for it. "you're not going to show them! I won't let you!" Inuyasha grinned and pulled the photograph out while rolling around on the ground trying to get the demoness off himself.

The others looked amused and sat back for the show. Shippou was jumping up and down, rooting for Inuyasha for once. His kitsune curiosity getting the better of him, he wanted to see what Kagome didn't want anyone to. Kagome spared a glance to Shippou and that's all Inuyasha needed to win the tussle and pin her facedown to the ground with his legs pinning her arms on either side. Inuyasha held up the picture and called Shippou over, :: good pup.:: "look at this and give it to the others." Shippou was shocked by the compliment and took the picture in a daze. He looked up at the hanyou to receive a tell-the-others-what-I-said-and-die look. Shippou nodded and looked at the photograph of a young hanyou Kagome with mud in her hair and sitting in a baby pool filled with water, grinning the cheekiest grin ever. Shippou looked up at the pinned Kagome and saw the complete opposite: her eyes were pinkish and a growl was emanating from her throat.

"Inuyasha you'd better let me up now! I don't know which picture you have Shippou, but you'd better not..." Shippou handed the picture to Miroku, hearing the warning a little too late. "show...the...others," Kagome groaned and planted her face into the mud, unconsciously copying the photo in real life.

"I have more pictures if you want to see them!" Inuyasha practically crowed with delight, fishing out one of the smaller albums that Gin had given him. The others smirked evilly and thought one thing: blackmail. "and with your 'proof of previous training' just proves that you do need training, Kagome," he said, releasing one of Kagome's arms, which immediately went to try to get Inuyasha's butt of her back. Inuyasha caught her claw mere inches from his...legs... and pinned it back onto the ground. "now Kagome :: mate:: do you think I would be nice to you if you did that to me?" Inuyasha asked with a bit of humor in his voice to cover up the slightly higher pitch at the close call. Miroku gave some dry 'ha's' in sympathy.

Kagome's head shot up at the soft bark that Inuyasha had given. Somehow she had understood it. :: mate?:: she barked back, not really noticing the stares they were getting from the humans.

"yes, on demon terms. And no on human terms. As far as the lesser youkai understand. I protect you, you show me loyalty, and you are a fertile female, thus mine" Inuyasha said simply, holding his chin up in a dominant manner. Kagome blushed bright red at the last part, but this was hidden by the mud on her cheeks.

Shippou, who understood the canine-youkai, nodded, "but she isn't able to have pups currently because she already has a young one to take care of," Shippou said confidently.

"who? You? Ha! You're not that young. In fact I could take her now if I wanted to! She's available to have another, adopted or not," Inuyasha retorted. The humans were just getting the gist of the subject and they were blushing sympathetically at Kagome, who was currently competing with Inuyasha's haori for the redder object.

"umm... guys?" Kagome squeaked, hoping to catch their attention before something regrettable happened.

"the pack is small and we need more numbers!" Inuyasha elevated his voice and gestured with his hands, forgetting why his hands where there in the first place.

# okay, he's starting to sound like Koga, time to get up # Kagome flipped onto her back to stare up at the male and glared, a growl starting in her chest and getting louder. The sound finally reached Inuyasha's ears and he gulped. He knew that face all-to-well. It was the famous demonic version of the run-or-get-sat face.

"Inuyasha," she started off, emphasizing every syllable, "if you ever want to see daylight again, get off me now," she ended up with a venomously-sweet smile. Inuyasha went pale enough to compete with Sesshomaru's complexion and started to stand up. Apparently not fast enough for Kagome, "SIT! I'M NOT INVISIBLE YOU KNOW! SIT!"

Kagome, unfortunately, ended up under Inuyasha. Who, in turn, was put into a good foot-deep hole. "come on, the show's over and we need to pack up for the day. I believe that Kagome and Inuyasha have some important things to... discuss," Miroku said standing up. Good thing the two couldn't hear anything underground, or Miroku would be dead meat.

* * *

5 minutes later.

"are you sure that they're okay? I mean, the spell should have worn out by now," Shippou asked, standing over the hole down at Inuyasha's back.

"I'm sure they are fine Shippou. But they must be having a very good conversation for it to be lasting this long," Miroku said suggestively, receiving a punch on the shoulder from Sango. He had seen exactly how the two had landed before they were buried.

* * *

Underground with the not-so-happy couple

# it's been over five minutes! He should have been able to lift his body off mine by now! # Kagome thought suspiciously. She was seriously considering how they landed was a part of why Inuyasha hadn't moved for the whole time to resist the spell. They were head-to-head and body-to-body, and trying anything would stir up unnecessary instincts for the two. For one, their lips were touching. Was that what they would consider their first kiss? Gods, she hoped not. And also, Kagome was in the submissive position. "Inuyasha?" she mumbled, trying to get the boy's attention.

"what?" he breathed against her lips, cracking his eyes open to look at the trapped female. He was trying his hardest to not provoke anything while the spell was active and he wouldn't be able to escape.

"try to get up, I think the spell's gone," Kagome mumbled onto his silky-soft lips, "and run if you feel you need to," she added as an afterthought to get them both out of trouble.

Run! That's all he wanted to do at the moment: get away from Kagome as fast as possible before something happened and cool off. Inuyasha nodded enough for Kagome to feel and jumped straight up out of the hole. He sprinted all the way to the next clearing before stopping. There he fell down into the grass, trying all his might to flush out Kagome's intoxicating scent from his pallet.

A minute later, Kagome sat up from the co-ed hole and groaned. "so, did you and Inuyasha have an interesting conversation down there?" Miroku asked, snuffing out the fire with a bucket of water. Kagome turned her head at the monk and gave him a murderous look and jumped in a tree upwind of the campsite for the same reason Inuyasha was smelling grass (the green stuff, not marijuana!).

* * *

With Inuyasha

He looked up at the clouds, remembering what training he had, when he noticed a smallish cloud flying directly towards him. He watched it stop directly above him and dissipate, dropping a scroll onto his head. "oi!" Inuyasha rubbed his head and picked up the scroll that was now lying beside him in the grass. "this had better be good Sesshomaru," he mumbled as he propped himself up on one elbow to read it. The only time his half-brother sent a youki (demon energy) messenger was when he had to and was because of political issues. Each youkai (demon) had a different type of messenger, it's just that the silver dog clan had cloud messengers that seemed to disappear as soon as it's job was finished. Inuyasha used his index claw to break the silver seal of the silver-inu clan and unraveled the parchment:

_Prince Inuyasha, second son of Inu-no-Taisho, of the western lands: you are cordially invited to the annual royal youkai ball. The day is the third day of the moon. Bring a representative/escort if you wish. No more than one additional guest. Reigning Lord Sesshomaru, first son of Inu-no-Taisho, of the Western Lands_

And there was a scrolled note at the bottom:

_You're required to come, willingly or not, this year. Show up a day early because you would not like me to have to hunt you down. Sesshomaru _

"oh, yes. Such a fun character, my brother. And I think I'll follow his example and get some sake and tea like the scroll smells like. We both need it," he groaned, rolling into his stomach to stand up to go back to camp. Yes, he couldn't read much youkai kanji, but formal invitations didn't exactly need to be read thoroughly to be understood. The smell of the ink was usually enough.

* * *

At camp

"Lady Sango, did you notice anything else about Lady Kagome as she got out of the hole?" Miroku asked, sitting against a tree, waiting for the han-Inu's to get back from where ever they went.

"I can hear you perfectly fine, Miroku. So what else did you notice about me?" Kagome looked down from her hidden spot in the tree. Her new clothing blended perfectly well with the background so she was virtually invisible except for the orange flowers.

Miroku paled slightly and looked across the clearing to where he thought Kagome was, "I was just going to comment that you have such a lovely tail right now... smack! ... not like that Lady Sango, I was not commenting her butt currently... smack! ...I'm saying that lady Kagome really has a tail today, in this form," Miroku was wincing and hoping his cheeks would not swell up at the two red handprints on his face from Sango.

# open mouth, insert foot, Miroku # Kagome thought as she looked down. And there it was: a black, furry appendage coming from her tailbone region. The tip of the black thing twitched and Kagome couldn't help but smile. She grabbed it and pulled it up onto her lap. Yep, it was connected to her posterior alright. She ran her hand along the direction of her tail to feel its silkiness.

Mud. There was mud on her tail from the fight with Inuyasha earlier. NO! THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE! How could he keep his silver hairs so freakishly white and clean, and she would have dirt clods on her tail from five minutes of movement! Kagome groaned and jumped down from the tree to retrieve her hairbrush to help with the task of removing mud.

"oh! Kagome-okaa-san, your tail's so pretty!" Shippou said, jumping onto her leg to get a closer look. The tip, hanging straight, just barely reached her ankles.

"thank you Shippou, but -twitch- it's a little dirty right now. So before Inuyasha comes back and insists that we start moving, I'm going to get some of the dirt out of it." Kagome sat down, careful of her tail, on the ground and pulled the relatively volume-less tail onto her lap (she has long tail hair, its just straight, and so no fluff like Sesshy and Shippou yet).

"can I help you Kagome-kaa-san?" Shippou asked as an afterthought after already starting at the tip and moving up. Kagome nodded, thankful for the extra help and somehow comforted at the help from the young pack-member.

This is the scene that Inuyasha came upon, Shippou showing respect to the alpha-female by helping groom and Miroku's hand heading to Sango, who was polishing her sward, and succeeding. The resounding smack of HiraiKotsu vs. skull didn't even make the group flinch anymore after almost a year of it happening daily. Inuyasha called Kagome before tossing the rolled-up scroll at her to look over. Kagome didn't even look up from her grooming to catch the scroll.

"what's this?" Kagome asked, looking up at Inuyasha and putting her hairbrush down after a few last futile swipes. She could smell a hint of sake and the herbs put into the ink that would make it say 'official document, do not touch.'

"an invitation. I have to go to the castle in two weeks and make an official appearance at the annual spring ball. You're coming with me," Inuyasha squatted down beside Kagome as she read through the notice, "you'll help me with the reply tonight. Right now, we start with your training, c'mon," Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's upper arm and dragged her of to the clearing that Inuyasha had been in earlier.

* * *

I think this is the furthest I'm going to push my pg-13 rating thank you very much. and don't you dare say anything mr woffums!

Whatcha think? This will be my first multi-part chapter sequence. I think demon day will be about 3-4 chapters long, so I hope I don't bore you. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm willing to listen. Plus, I need help to figure out what Kagome's daddy is like. Remember, he's ½ a century younger from meeting his wife and having Kagome. If someone comes up with a great description to what he should be like, tell me.

I had my first school choir concert last night, so I'm a bit drained. And my dad moves to the other side of the continent at the end of the month. I hope to get part II up by then. See you all next time! Dark


	17. demon day part II

Thanks to all those people who reviewed! And one special person who's seen movie #3 told me that Inuyasha was only 200 years old. I'm going to make Sesshomaru 500-800 years old then. One hundred human years equals one hanyou year and again double for demon years. The scale is mine, but thanks for the info! Warning: minor spoiler if you haven't seen the first movie (affections touching across time)

I GOT MOVIE #1! I GOT MOVIE #1! I GOT MOVIE #1! I GOT MOVIE #1! I GOT MOVIE #1! YAY!!! But I still don't own any of our doggie friends! :(

* * *

Chapter 17: demon day II

Last time: "an invitation. I have to go to the castle in two weeks and make an official appearance at the annual spring ball. You're coming with me," Inuyasha squatted down beside Kagome as she read through the notice, "you'll help me with the reply tonight. Right now, we start with your training, c'mon," Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's upper arm and dragged her of to the clearing that Inuyasha had been in earlier.

This time: "but...but...but!" Kagome sputtered, dragging her heels in the dirt about five centimeters.

Inuyasha looked back at Kagome and smirked, "I do have a nice ass, don't I?" Miroku laughed heartily at the comeback and received a glare from Kagome that meant long torture if she could even move tonight.

Her face went pale and then crimson as the digested the remark, "you, you egotistical, narcissistic, contemptuous, insensitive jerk. You know I wasn't..." Kagome was cut off as Inuyasha finally gave up with pulling her to today's training grounds for picking her up and throwing her onto his shoulder (fireman way, with butt right there in the air(man, if Kagome was in her skirt, Miroku would be one happy camper!)).

Miroku watched them leave and a boomerang on steroids coming through the air to connect with his scull. One thing went though his mind before he decided to take a siesta: #what'd I do? #

* * *

Clearing with Inuyasha and Kagome

"ten laps. That should stretch you out enough" Inuyasha said, putting his hands on his hips, looking down at the demoness that he had thrown into the dirt. She sat up to a kneeling position and rubbed the base of her tail, hoping to relive the pain of landing on it.

# standing like that, Inuyasha looks like my track coach... wait a minute! ten laps, that's nuts! # Kagome thought, staring up at Inuyasha in an annoyed manner. He looked down and saw her eyes go big and glassy, reflecting the morning sun in the infamous puppy-dog eye look (hey! That's Shippou's move!). "Inuyasha," Kagome dragged out his name in an attempt to up the cuteness level, even putting in a little tail wag. "why do I have to do ten laps? Can't I just do, oh... three? Please?" she grinned like her baby-pool likeness and added in a bat or two of eyelashes.

Inuyasha looked away mid-sentence so he could resist 'the look.' "ten laps, before I decide to make it twenty laps. And that puppy attitude won't get you anywhere with me, pup." That was worse than calling her wench and he knew it, but he held the microscopic string of hope that she would use that as fighting fuel, not sitting fuel. Kagome stood up with flames in her eyes and started leaping away, "no jumping yet, just running!" Inuyasha yelled after her and she stopped jumping and started running, grumbling the whole time.

By the time that Kagome was on her fourth lap around the tree line of the clearing, she was looking a little unmotivated. "come on, pup, Shippou can run longer than you!" Inuyasha called across the clearing. With an amazing burst of speed, Kagome ran half of her so-called track and held her hand up to try to deface her personal motivational speaker. Inuyasha saw this in barely enough time to keep his facial scars minimum and jumped into a tree to supervise...and out of immediate striking range.

Kagome looked up at the tree and started running again the sooner her laps were done, the sooner she could give that silver hair of his a haircut.

* * *

Inuyasha's pov (English journal that seemed to fit that I wrote earlier in school.)

Something seemed different. He didn't know exactly what. But it was there. Nothing compared to his five senses seemed different as far as he could tell, but there was always that sixth sense kind of thing. That arcane feeling in your gut telling you to be cautious. That feeling was more intense now that she was in her demon state.

Ever since... since that possession (Affections Touching Across Time, that one) several months ago. The seal that the Shikon jewel had on her may have been cracked when that tainted jewel shard was put in her forehead. He didn't know she could do a lot of those things normally, or maybe she could. #well, I'll find out today # is what he thought as she finished her laps in record time. Her claws, that's what was setting him off. Power flowed differently around her claws than most demons, except his half-brother of course. Now to see if they would work, he took a deep breath and called her over, silently signaling her to attack.

* * *

Normal pov (and back to pulling things off the top of my head)

Kagome gave a savage grin and jumped up into the branch that her sensei was on. She gave a powerful thrust downward with her arms and legs onto the branch and managed to crack it slightly as Inuyasha flailed around trying to gain back his balance(I do that a lot to people on the jointed balance beam). Inuyasha growled, distracting her enough to knock them both off the branch.

Kagome on the bottom, used her legs and kicked Inuyasha off to land in the middle of the field. Kagome flipped mid-air and landed on her feet... make that her knees and toes. Kagome leapt to Inuyasha, "I always wondered why mom had me do gymnastics, now I know," Kagome said, distracting Inuyasha to wonder what gymnastics were. Kagome went in to punch in his face, but he ducked at the last second, connecting with Kagome's bent knee.

A hiss of sympathetic pain came from the edge of the clearing. There was Miroku leaning against a tree with his legs crossed Indian style and his hands discreetly covering the male Achilles' heel. Inuyasha was on the ground, crying in a fetal position. "that was a low blow, Kagome, just a little too low!" he sobbed through tears.

Sango nodded in sympathy as she and Shippou came out of the tree line also, "I hope that you didn't mean to do that Kagome-chan. That's just fighting unfairly" Sango expressed, leaning her shoulder on the tree's rough bark. Inuyasha nodded painfully and Shippou couldn't say anything, so he went for the pitying look.

Kagome held her hands up in defense, "I didn't expect him to bend over like that! I was going to trip him!" she cried, her eyes wide. Kagome bent over the red mass of a man, "Inuyasha, you have to stand up so I can help you back to camp to get some ice for your...ah, hot pants," Inuyasha whimpered and stood up just enough to wobble, with Kagome's help, back to camp. And by just enough, I mean that his head and front were parallel with the ground, trying to protect his 'extra sensitive spot.'

* * *

"here's your ice pack, Inuyasha. Good thing there were a couple of these in my first aid kit for things...like this," Kagome couldn't help but giggle a little bit at Inuyasha's expense. Besides, he shouldn't have gotten a demoness mad. Especially one that doesn't know how to control herself and her moves yet. He was gingerly sitting against a tree and on his red blanket that had been retrieved earlier. "I guess no more lessons today..."

"no" was Inuyasha's immediate reply, "I just will tell you what to do, But no more sparring. You remember what happened that one time when you were possessed, right?"

"which time?" Kagome voiced everyone's dry thoughts.

"The time when you tried to kill me"

Kagome waved her hand, showing her palm, to silently tell him to go on.

Inuyasha sighed, "the time that you tried to pin me to the Goshinboku"

Kagome's mouth opened in an 'oh' and the rest of the groups' jaws dropped at that startling news. Kagome sat down and stared Inuyasha in the eye, "yeah, and I said I was sorry afterwards, your point?"

"you told me later that you could see what was happening the whole time. Do you remember you using an acid claw attack?" Kagome nodded hesitantly after a second. "good, then that's what I want you to do for the rest of the day. Try to get your acid claw to work on will. The others will help." The humans went pale, they didn't want to be killed by some demoness just learning how to use her claw-based attack. "Miroku will help you center and Sango will set up targets if you are able to center." With that said, Inuyasha leaned his head against the tree and started centering himself. He took a deep breath, sending the demonic version of painkillers to his abused manhood. # I may not have the healing abilities of chichi-oya, but thank the forgiving gods that I have his ability of painkillers! #

they watched Inuyasha supposedly go to sleep, "well, lady Kagome, we'd better find somewhere quiet so we can work on your centering. This way," Miroku gestured to the opposite side of the camp and beyond.

Inuyasha cracked open one of his golden eyes, "don't go too far, monk, I want to be able to sense you," Inuyasha warned, startling everyone with the no-nonsense voice of a pack-leader.

"do not worry Inuyasha, we are only going into the forest to a stream that I ran across earlier..." Miroku explained in his most convincing voice.

"no, stay within sight of me," Inuyasha interjected, staring Miroku down into a submissive position. Miroku, being human, didn't understand the challenging leadership part of taking Kagome out of the campsite and didn't say anything. Kagome, who understood somewhat, placed one hand on Miroku's shoulder and pushed him down to the ground. Kagome sat down facing the monk and got into a comfortable position.

"ah?" Miroku started asking, but was cut off by a quick shake of Kagome's head. Some things are best not asked about, especially asking a pack's leader's commands. Taking the alpha-female out of the alpha-male's sight, in Inuyasha's opinion, was a bad thing to do. Especially a lesser male leading a high-ranking female and not the other way around. That could be considered a direct challenge for alpha-male.

Kagome took a steadying breath as a silent signal for Miroku to start and dropped into a meditative pose. Miroku took one last glance at Inuyasha, "right. Well, lets start at the basics: calming. Your posture is correct, now concentrate on your breathing. Pretend its colored good and bad. You exhale the bad colors out of your mouth and inhale the good colors in through your nose," Miroku fell silent as they both dropped into the spirit world of their minds.

* * *

"Miroku? Mi-ro-ku-u! where are you-u?" Kagome yelled through the white emptiness of her mind. The mist reminded her of the one year that Eri had that Halloween party where she dropped the whole ten pound block of dry ice in a puddle outside her door on accident. The whole neighborhood had a pea-soup fog all night! Kagome giggled at that memory and that's how Miroku's mental form found her. Or what she assumed to be Miroku's mental form. The man in front of her had shoulder-blade length hair pulled back into a ponytail and purple markings on his face.

"lady Kagome, you don't spend much time here I assume? By the looks of this place, we'll have to start from scratch to make your training grounds," he said in what could have best have been described as liquid silk. Miroku gestured with his golden staff and started walking away to blend into the mist with his white yukata.

"wait, Miroku! What am I supposed to do?" Kagome said, running after the rapidly disappearing figure.

Miroku turned back to face her and smiled, "whatever your heart imagines, lady Kagome, just let your imagination create a place where you are comfortable to think and let it happen. I have a waterfall in my spirit plane!" Miroku grinned and left Kagome to her own devices.

Kagome stopped and looked down at her feet, letting a small braid fall into her face, "what's this?" she asked out loud, bringing it up for a better look. She used her other hand to feel the rest of her hair - braided just like the strand in front of her face and put up into a messy bun that would stay in place no matter what she would do. She looked up to her left and a full-length mirror materialized itself out of the fog.

# so that's how it works, huh? # she thought as she silently wished for a field of flowers. The mist took on a green tint and grass snaked out from where she was standing to every direction she could see.

"creepy," Kagome noticed that there were only two colors in the area: green and white. Looking up, Kagome imagined a blue 'Colorado-like' sky. One of the exchange students that she had befriended had once told her that it was the most beautiful thing she could live under.

And along with the sky, Kagome put a border of distant mountains to her left and a forest on the other three sides. A clearing, perfect to feel safe and secure. Looking around, she noticed that it was Inuyasha's forest that she was now standing by. The mist was reduced to a small thing that sneaked around the trees and her ankles, reminding her that this area was only in her mind and was not real.

It was quiet, too quiet (I love that line!). with all the visual beauty surrounding her, she had missed the noises of the forest that seemed never to stop. And with a deep breath, Kagome conjured some song-birds to break the silence.

A twig snapped, Kagome turned and dropped into a defensive position, drawing her claws up to her face. Miroku's mental form stepped out from behind one of the larger trees and held up his hands in a placating gesture. "lady Kagome, you have done well in such a short time. I remember that it took me a month to create mine. You have a lot of potential just with this little show."

"uh... thanks. I guess," Kagome looked around at anything but Miroku. # this place is still too empty, I need a dojo (training building)... over there would be great! # Kagome cleared her thoughts and imagined the dojo that she had been taught at for many years before she met Inuyasha, at a constant insistence from her mother. A building appeared to her right, seeming to build itself out of the mist like everything else.

A hand made itself known, surprising, on her shoulder. Kagome turned to see udder fascination in Miroku's violet orbs. "well, at least we can be inside to work on your ki," he put simply, gesturing for Kagome to go first into the thatched-roof, rectangular building.

Once Kagome settled in from admiring her handy-work (she even remembered indoor plumbing!), she kneeled down in front of Miroku. "now, look for the light around me. That's my aura, what color is it?"

"purple" Kagome giggled out, seeing the cloud that would match Miroku's robes perfectly. Miroku grinned back and spread his aura out to encompass the room.

"now, what I'm doing is relaxing and seeking you out spiritually to help you. In real life, I'm slumped against the tree believe it or not. Now you try it, just relax," he purred, sounding oddly like a cat as he pulled his aura back in.

Kagome let out a long breath and imagined spreading out to feel every corner of the large room. She felt something like water flowing out of her and along the floor. She gasped as she realized that she could feel the roughness of the hardwood floor on the other side of the room and the cotton of Miroku's clothes as he shifted slightly to look around at her aura.

Miroku felt his jaw drop as he saw Kagome's aura surround him. He had always felt opposites within her, but to see it manifest itself was a whole different matter. Swirls of pink and dark blue went around, letting off little flashes of energy every time they touched. The blue wrapped itself around Miroku, as it was currently more available than the pink, and gave the sense of 'very powerful: be careful.' Miroku nodded slightly, "Kagome, try to draw it all back in now, but draw the pink in first."

Kagome nodded and cracked her eye open slightly to see what her aura was like. She noticed that Miroku shuddered every time a blue tendril touched him, "why don't you want me to pull the blue in first?" she asked, worried for Miroku's welfare and hiding the pink in a place in her soul.

"we are here to work on your demon abilities first today, we might get to your miko powers if you don't pass out first. The blue is the demonic aura and the pink is your miko aura. Almost impossible to have such opposing forces in the same body," he explained. "now, pull in your demon aura, just don't put it away. Let it surround just yourself."

"you're shivering. You don't like my aura, do you?" Kagome asked, drawing in the youki until it just looked like Kagome was glowing blue.

"no, its just that no matter how many times I look at you, I don't believe that you can be part demon like Inuyasha. It doesn't really suit the you that I have come to know." Miroku gave a withering smile, "now, focus your energy into your fingertips. Inuyasha once told me how you did this when your were...ah... possessed by that moth demon." Miroku inwardly cringed. That had not been a happy memory for any of them, especially Kagome.

Kagome's fingertips started to get warm and tingly, she looked down to see her claws now manicure-perfect and glowing yellow. Kagome didn't know how, but she immediately knew how to use this 'new-found' attack. "tsumesan (acid nail)!" she yelled as she flung her hand toward the far wall to their left.

Five neat holes started burning in the wall, steadily getting bigger as Miroku steadily got paler. The holes stopped burning at about a foot diameter and wood pulp dripped to the floor in a sickly splat. Kagome stood up and inspected the holes, daring to stick her hand in one of the pulp piles. Kagome thought it felt like pudding and brought one finger full up to her sensitive nose to sniff the type of poison. There was none left, it had completely evaporated before Kagome even touched it.

One word went through Miroku's mind when Kagome inspected the pulp: eww! He pulled his face into check before standing up and joining Kagome in inspecting the holes, "that, it seems, is your youki attack. It looks like a cross between Sesshomaru-sama's acid claw and Inuyasha's Sankon Tessou. Interesting."

* * *

The real world (I haven't seen that show yet)

Inuyasha looked on to the meditating pair. He could see Kagome's aura fluctuate as Miroku taught her the exercises to control her aura. Miroku 'fell' back into his body briefly and gave off a scent of fear. He locked eyes with Inuyasha as Kagome's nails began to glow, Inuyasha nodded and Miroku went back into the world of Kagome's mind.

"good, Kagome is learning faster than I thought she would. And we'll be able to contact Miroku when lunch in ready," Inuyasha commented, moving to sit a little closer to Sango in case those glowing nails decided to get launched. With the pain-killers in place, Inuyasha was... creepily amicable.

Sango decided to get some patchwork done while Miroku and Kagome were stationary, "its interesting to see Kagome in this form. Except for the tail and the demonic features, she looks like she used to do when she was human. Don't you think so Inuyasha?" Sango looked up from the threading the needle that Kagome had gotten her several months ago and stared at the houshi.

Inuyasha nodded, "yeah. Of coarse this is what she really looks like, not human like my time in the cycle. I don't really know if she can even throw a decent punch, let alone fight against another demon. True she can shoot those arrows of hers, but she would get killed in any close-range fight. I learned the hard way growing up, but Kagome at least has us to teach her how."

Inuyasha stood up and re-adjusted his haori, "I have to go, ah, look for something for later tonight. I'll be within hearing distance." He grabbed one of the old pieces of cloth for herbs from Kagome's pack and disappeared into a bush, hunting for the proper herbs to make the ink to reply to his half-brother's... _request.

* * *

_

In Kag's mind

They had settled back down in the middle of the room, Miroku staring over Kagome's shoulder constantly looking at where the acid holes were only minutes beforehand. Kagome waved a clawed hand in front of his face, snapping him back into the present. Miroku gave an embarrassed grin, showing that his mental form was indeed demon-like. Complete with fangs and pointed ears.

Kagome smiled back, "that comment earlier, that this form doesn't fit what you think of me as, I'll just say that I know more about your past than you do about mine. You'd be surprised to learn that I know a lot more than I let on that I know. But it just seems easy now to let you guys believe that I'm helpless and can't take care of myself." Kagome refused to look at the disbelieving Miroku the whole time she was talking, letting a small bit of color come into her cheeks.

Miroku nodded sagely and stared, trying to catch Kagome's eye, "you're getting tired. I can tell because you are flickering back into the real world and I can hear Sango starting to get lunch ready. We've been 'sitting still' for a couple hours now and I think if we stay stationary any longer, our legs won't work properly." That was true, Kagome could feel her physical legs get tingly from lack of circulation and movement. Yep, time to get up.

* * *

Real world a minute later

"Kagome, lady Kagome?" Miroku was shaking Kagome's shoulder, trying to wake her up with minimal risk to his health. They were starting to worry, what if she was stuck in her own mind! Miroku's hand slipped a mere centimeter from her shoulder in his thoughts, a millisecond later, Kagome's thumbnail was on the major tendon, threatening to cripple it.

"not right now Miroku, too tired," she mumbled, not even giving him the grace of opening her eyes. Miroku nodded unseeingly and removed his hand, whole I might add.

# good, she's just sleepy. Even with a demon's metabolism, that mental session was tiring. And to think of it, Shippou is older than her and probably wouldn't last as long as she did. # Miroku thought, sitting down to stare up at the clouds waiting for Inuyasha to come back.

True Kagome looked older than Shippou, but that was just because she had spent the last ten years of her life living and growing as a human. In essence, she had passed all the childhood inu/haninu phases and yes, that would come to haunt her later. One was a metabolism the same as she had been six: needing sleep if she worked too hard. She was mature enough mentally, but her body was still young for a demon.

Shippou knew that he was older than Kagome currently, but he didn't care. They treated each other as mother and son even if it was (presently) not true.

"Shippou, can you go and tell Inuyasha that Kagome's done training for the day? By the time you find him, lunch will most likely be ready," Sango said, digging through Kagome's pack for something edible and easy to cook. Because of her taijiya training, she never really had learned many domestic things. And cooking was on that list of non-perfected skills.

Shippou looked up from his tops and nodded, running to where his nose pointed him to Inuyasha. As soon as he left, Kagome started stirring. "Wh... where's Shippou?" she asked, staring at the toys that Shippou had left on the ground.

She started standing up and Sango rushed to her side, "Kagome, I sent Shippou to get Inuyasha and you shouldn't move that much." Kagome shook of Sango and started walking the direction that Inuyasha and Shippou took. Sango tried to stop the demoness, "he's not in any danger Kagome, they're both within shouting distance and we'll be able to tell if they were!"

"Then why didn't you just yell for Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, clearly getting run over with maternal instincts.

"I didn't want to wake you up! That's why. And it looked like Shippou was bored." Sango tried to prove her argument.

"And safe. You don't send a kit..."

"Momma!" Shippou yelled and the next instant Kagome was running after his voice. She came into the clearing with Inuyasha holding Shippou up by the tail and giving him an evil glare. Maternal instinct took over and Kagome disappeared in a green and black blur. The next moment, Inuyasha had five clean cuts across his arm and Shippou was being held by Kagome with her other arm and feet on the ground in a crouching posture.

Inuyasha looked at the cuts and back to Kagome. She was mad. No, not mad, pissed. Her maternal instincts had gone on overdrive in her full youkai form and the only thing running through her mind was to protect the kit.

# oh, shit! # was all Inuyasha could think as he crouched in, what he hoped to be, a submissive position. He crawled slowly, stopping every few steps, towards Kagome. She growled a warning and Inuyasha yipped back an apology in the most soothing way he could think, :: mate. Sorry. Pup safe. Accept sorry?::

Kagome lightened her grip on Shippou slightly and looked down on him. He looked and felt uninjured. ::pup sorry:: Shippou barked, trying to snap Kagome out of the condition she was having with her instinct high. Shippou's bark seemed to work, as Kagome lowered him down to the ground and allowed Inuyasha to come closer.

He pulled his hair aside to bare his neck, showing trust and submission. The cloudiness in Kagome's eyes cleared as she saw this. "why did Shippou call for me?" she asked, brushing Inuyasha's hair back into place.

Inuyasha stood up and grabbed a sweet-smelling package, "Shippou almost made me drop this," he held up the loose bundle, "and I don't want to go hunting for them again." He held it out for Kagome to take, "feh, I have to find some more things first. Go back to camp and take the runt with you"

Shippou stuck out his tongue at the word runt, accidentally letting Kagome see. She grabbed the back of Shippou's neck lightly in a warning and he immediately stopped with a small yip. Inuyasha turned and left, smirking slightly at Kagome letting her instincts admonish the kit. He even bet that she didn't even notice anything. It would be interesting tonight to see what she would act like.

# what do I need now, pine wood, a feather, and something to hold the ink in. great, that's all I need, pine sap on Tetsuiga. # he thought, looking up at a pine tree that looked like it wouldn't give up any branches without any persuasion.

Kagome looked after Inuyasha for a minute, then turned and walked back to camp, where she found Sango hanging old rags on branches for makeshift targets. "is everything alright Kagome?" she asked, hanging the last piece of cloth on a branch and jumping down.

"yeah, Inuyasha and Shippou just startled each other, that's all. are those my targets?" Kagome asked, setting the herbs down by the fire and sending Shippou back to his toys to play with.

"yes. Now I saw that you can summon your attack, so lets see if you can fire it also. Start with that target over there," Sango pointed to a fairly large boulder with a piece of cloth marking the target. Kagome took a deep breath and held her hand up to a firing position. The yellow warmth traveled up her arm and concentrated in her fingertips. Once she felt it build up enough, Kagome flicked her hand at the boulder. A total of...1 acid arrow grazed the boulder, revealing that the inside was a geode (cool! It's one of those rocks with the crystals on the inside).

"well, at least you got one in the same general direction as the boulder. Could you at least have the rest of them _not_ topple the rest of camp?" Sango said, standing up from the quick duck that she had to do and looking at the acid hole behind her. Miroku had the smarts of being behind Kagome when she did this so didn't have to move from his sitting position.

"hehehe... oops" Kagome said, looking and mentally keeping track of where the other four "acid arrows" went. One grazed the boulder, another behind Sango, one came uncomfortably close to her backpack. HiraiKotsu was inches away from being melted, and the last one had created a decent-sized fire-pit to use later.

"oh...kay... lets just use one finger until you can shoot all five without hurting, killing, or dissolving anything. Try again," Sango said, borrowing some slang that Kagome had taught them.

Kagome nodded and pointed her finger at the target, letting the energy only go into that one. She fired and still missed the cloth, but hit the boulder at least (and dissolving half of it at the same time). "well, that reminded me of my cousin's rei gun (spirit gun) attack (foreshadowing! Yu Yu Hakusho). At least I can hit the same area as the target now!"

"yeah, let's just hit the actual target now," Sango said, brushing off the rei gun comment to ask later. They worked on hitting the target until Inuyasha came back carrying a pile of green pine wood, intending on burning it to make the ink for the letter.

* * *

There were only a few more rags left when Inuyasha came in and dumped the wood into the hole made from Kagome's earlier target practice. "Shippou come over here. I want you to dry out that wood as much as you can so it won't smoke, and then call me over." Inuyasha instructed, seeing that the kit was bored out of his mind and needed something to do before he tried to pull one of his infamous pranks.

Inuyasha sat down by Kagome's backpack after inspecting the melted hole right above it. he didn't say anything as he began to dig through it for something sharp, like that can lid that Kagome insisted on putting a handle on to make something called a 'pizza cutter' whatever that was. He set the pizza cutter on his lap and pulled out a handful of colorful feathers. Kagome's eyes were drawn by the colors and Inuyasha struggled to form a straight face.

"pick one you like. I'll make a quill out of it," he said, pulling a skinny black one out and applied the cutter to the end at a 45 degree angle, cutting of the round tip and replacing it with a pointed one. Kagome looked through blue ones from the birds of paradise, to purple ones from the carrion crow, to a furry looking one that changed colors but was mostly blood red. She held up this one and Inuyasha took it and cut the tip.

"it's a phoenix feather. Suppose to help with the calligraphy, but all I know is that thing's going to stay around a while no matter what you do. The fire will only clean the ink out of it and that's it," Inuyasha explained, twirling it to catch the light and fluff out. Inuyasha looked over to where Shippou was supposed to be, only to see a white blanket of steam covering that area and blue flashes of fox fire. "you can even let Shippou try to destroy it, but he couldn't." he continued, handing it to Kagome.

The feather sparked with purple flames, acknowledging Kagome as its owner. Kagome put the tip to her forearm to test how sharp it was and purple ink came out and started writing by itself: "hello, we are one now, you and me, lady Kagome. And you will find me most useful after I have tasted your blood!" The pin tip pricked her and the ink turned into a dark brown color to a black and back to purple. "now we are one," and it fell to the dirt. Kagome's blood covered up the writing and when she wiped it away, the writing was gone.

"that was weird, was it supposed to do that?" Kagome asked, picking up the quail tentatively.

"good, I picked the right feather then for you. It was hard since I didn't know your preferences. Now watch mine." Inuyasha put his black slim one on his arm and it did the same thing, writing in a bright red that looked more like welts. After a while, the black one pricked Inuyasha and fell to the ground also. "wooden ones do the same, but they leave splinters all the time. So I like to use feathers. Now, help me with these herbs will ya," Inuyasha spotted the package of now-dry herbs by the fire. He used his claws to de-leaf them and started chopping the stems into dust.

Inuyasha held up the carefully separated leaves for Kagome to see. "these are the herbs used to make a letter smell formal. I may have not learned how to write, but I know how to make the ink at least. You probably don't know how to make the ink, correct?" Inuyasha asked, remembering that she had Shippou using something called a ball-point pen that lacked the formal flare of the kanji. Kagome nodded and tried to remember the look and scent of the leaves before Inuyasha put them away. Inuyasha wrapped the dust and leaves in the herb cloth and put them in a hidden pocket in his haori.

Shippou had just finished steaming the wood and it was now as dry as it could be and he was exhausted. Inuyasha walked over to the kit and picked up a piece of wood to test its dryness. He nodded at the kit and started splitting the larger pieces with Tetsuiga, still covered by sap by the way. Inuyasha placed the wood in a burning pile and used one of the longer sticks to get some fire to start this second one of pine.

"when you feel up to it, make this fire as hot as you can and try to burn all the wood. I want coal by the time it burns out, got it?" Shippou nodded and looked warily at the pile of wood that had pieces that were as big as himself. This would take all day!

"well, since there's nothing else to do right now, and you're awake, we can work on your fair fighting." Inuyasha emphasized, feeling a little twang down south.

"it was a mistake! Honest! I didn't mean to! I haven't been able to practice in a long time with the whole 'weak human' you've labeled me as! And that's what I would be practicing if you would let me go home every once in a while!" Kagome started to fume. This was not a good thing and he hoped that she would start getting physical soon instead of sitting him.

"whatever you learned in your time wouldn't help us against demons! You can barely even beat up a normal human, let alone a demon!" Inuyasha said, internally smirking.

"that's because you've never let me fight before!" Kagome clenched her fist, almost to the point of drawing blood on her palm.

"the only time I let you fight, you ran for cover and those bandits almost skewered you!" Inuyasha said eerily calm, letting some worry into his voice.

"point." Miroku said, remembering what Kagome and Inuyasha had told him about how the jewel was shattered. The arguing couple ignored everything outside of their quarrel.

"they had weapons and I was still new to the idea that this world has demons everywhere you turn!" Kagome drew back and punched Inuyasha's jaw.

# about time! # Inuyasha thought, ducking the punch and grabbing her wrist. She used her other elbow and dug it into his stomach as a distraction to get some distance. Mainly, the other side of the campground behind the used-to-be boulder.

"I never would have thought of doing that," Sango whispered to Miroku, glad that they weren't part of the fight so far. The fight lasted far into the afternoon, sprinkled with sits and stays here and there. They didn't even stop for the dinner that Miroku had put in the Dutch oven that Kagome had brought. Too bad because it was slow-roasted beef stew.

Eventually, Shippou came out of his lack-of-energy-from-drying-the-wood spell and worked on the fire, making the little flames into a decent-sized bonfire that was a background to Kagome and Inuyasha fighting.

Just imagine the scene: Inuyasha and Kagome with several scratches on their bodies, as well as bruises on Inuyasha's part, silhouetted against a roaring orange wall of flame. With Sango, Miroku, and Shippou with chunks of stew on various stages to the mouth while Kagome gets a good kick to the stomach in, sending Inuyasha through the bonfire out of sight. There was a collective 'ooh' from the audience as Kagome was tackled by a fire-engulfed monster that turned out to just be Inuyasha. They continued as Miroku saved two large portions in the pot and placed it by the fire to keep warm.

* * *

Extra long for my apology of taking a long time to update. 17 pages on word where my previous record was only 12 pages. I was grounded from the computer and that's why. There is a prayer that one of my friends gave me a while ago that you all might like on my bio page.

In the next chapter, we will be seeing Kagome's animal-like form as well as Shippou's!

Until then, keep writing and reading and have a happy outlook on life ( or not!), dark


	18. demon day part III

Hi y'all! I really like your e-mails. I didn't even notice that the end of the chapter had a Harry Potter influence to it until someone brought it up. And yes, redheads unite! No, this will not be a crossover fic, I like to think of it more as a guest appearance by our beloved Toushin: Yusuke. And if I had any plot in this story so far, I wasn't aware of it. now that I have my responses over and everyone asking themselves what I'm on (sugar btw), I can get my new chapter written! and yes, I encurage all newbie reviewers (you're doing fine sweetie, some just put two words max on their reviews: update soon (half of reviewers look away with fake innocent look). always help the author if you can!)

;;cat language;; ::dog language:: "speaking" #thoughts # (peanut gallery)

Disclaimer: I can't think of anything unique and original, so I'll use the standard application… here.

* * *

Chapter 18: demon day (night) III

Last time: Just imagine the scene: Inuyasha and Kagome with several scratches on their bodies, as well as bruises on Inuyasha's part, silhouetted against a roaring orange wall of flame. With Sango, Miroku, and Shippou with chunks of stew on various stages to the mouth while Kagome gets a good kick to the stomach in, sending Inuyasha through the bonfire out of sight. There was a collective 'ooh' from the audience as Kagome was tackled by a fire-engulfed monster that turned out to just be Inuyasha. They continued as Miroku saved two large portions in the pot and placed it by the fire to keep warm.

This time: as if mirroring the two hanyous, the bonfire let out its last amount of heat as they collapsed on the ground. Kagome may not have had much fighting experience, but her temporary full demon strength more than made up for it. "are you two ready to eat now?" Miroku asked, slightly disappointed that half of their entertainment for the evening was kaput. Kagome leaned up against Inuyasha and remembered her silent promise to hurt Miroku earlier that day.

"too tired… make the monk shut up before I find my second wind," Kagome mumbled into Inuyasha's arm, barely even able to lift her head. Inuyasha laughed at the younger hanyou knowing that she wasn't moving anywhere soon because she didn't know how to reserve her energy in a fight yet.

The laughter was unexpected, but after the 'accident' of that morning, Inuyasha had been acting lighter than normal. Maybe because of the painkillers in his system, or the fact that Kagome had actually beaten him in a fight without magical influences (prayer beads). The laughter wasn't a full-out rolling laughter, but a little more than a friendly chuckle. Kagome couldn't help but smile and inhale Inuyasha's wild scent, he had a nice laugh and needed to let it out more often. Of course she wouldn't say anything out loud, but still, it was a nice change.

Inuyasha looked over at the smoldering coals, knowing that he would have to get to that soon before he ran out of time before the sun set. Yes, sunset, only an hour away and Kagome's body was unconsciously tensing all its muscles in preparation of the transformation. It was a good thing that he had wasted all of Kagome's energy beforehand, or they would all have a hell-inu to deal with all night. "Okay Kags, I need to get up to make the damn ink now. You can lean against the tree." Inuyasha said, surprising everyone by the unusual term of endearment (usual: wench, bitch, jewel shard detector, Kikyo wannabe, etc.). He leaned Kagome against the tree and set up a bucket of water next to the fire pit.

Inuyasha used his hands to crush the blackened logs to ash and added it to the water, making a black soupy mess. He then held up the packet of herbs to Kagome and dropped it straight into the bucket, guaranteeing that the cloth, when retrieved, would be black or at least nasty shade of gray. Taking a long stick, Inuyasha stuck the bucket into the middle of the campfire and stirred it, making sure the ash wouldn't settle. "now we wait for all the water to disappear. Its not the same as ningen black ink, but works just as well without irritating our noses." Inuyasha explained to Kagome, who was strangely reminded of a class she had taken for art credits several years ago.

"evaporation. The water disappearing is called evaporation, Inuyasha," Kagome said softly, hoping to return the small lesson. She leaned forward and looked into the flames until a bowl of stew with extra meat was shoved under her nose. She took an involuntary whiff and her mouth started watering. How Shippou knew that she was hungry for the meat only tonight, she didn't know. "thanks Shippou. I hope you had enough earlier with the others, right?" Kagome asked, refusing to eat until she knew that her pup was full. He nodded and Kagome took that as a go-ahead and grabbed the biggest piece of beef in her chopsticks and shoving it in her mouth. Table manners were all but forgotten as Kagome realized that she hadn't had any lunch and she was starving!

Inuyasha grinned at the reversal of roles concerning eating then as he took a small bite of carrot and chewed. It was good, he must admit, but Inuyasha was distracted a bit by the soon-to-be setting sun. The day was handled easily enough. But if Kagome thought it was hard to control her instincts in a humanoid demonic form, her animal form would be nearly impossible. None of the others really noticed, not seeing a humanoid-to-animal transformation before, but Kagome was already changing slowly. Her hair was becoming shaggier and was spreading beneath her clothes is a fine black fir. The face would be the last to show signs, but had a peach-fuzz layer to it already.

Kagome drank down the rest of the broth of her second bowl (with extra meat) and over it spotted the sun just barely touching the horizon. It was sunset… finally, "Inuyasha, I'm going. I don't really feel that good," she had a headache coming on and her eyes were a pink tinge. And Kagome bolted, using energy reserves that she didn't know she had not ten minutes ago. She ran into the shadows and out of her friends range of sight.

She had been in her humanoid-demonic form since daylight and had known what to expect, somewhat. The power of the inu-youkai was not very forgiving for the inexperienced. Inuyasha followed her at a safe distance, for her safety and everyone within a ten-mile radius just in case.

Kagome dropped to her knees about 100 yards into the forest and Inuyasha heard a pleading note as his name was called from his future mate. He was about to jump down to hold her when he saw the first signs of the actual transformation. After all of the years of watching his older brother transform, he knew them by heart.

First, the normally white part of her eye turned blood-red and widened as if in fear. Which, undoubtedly, she was. Then the transforming magic surrounded her, hiding the actual change as well as her face elongating. Whereas Sesshomaru would step out of the cloud, Kagome let the smoke clear in the light spring wind.

Inuyasha's first sight of her was a bit wobbly, to the point of her almost falling down straight onto her face like a pup first learning to walk, which was the best analogy, considering she had been a biped for most of her life. She ended up just thumping down onto her butt in the middle of the clearing, facing away from camp. Inuyasha jumped down out of the tree as the wind changed, causing him to be upwind of the girl-turned-inu.

Kagome started panicking when the white, sparkly cloud cleared, # who screwed up the color knob? # she thought as she looked around at the trees that surrounded her in weird, seeming-distorted colors. Of course, she had been in this animal form before, but it had been 10 YEARS since the last time.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha whispered, careful of her sensitive ears and catching her attention in a start. She pivoted around to face the hanyou, giving an instinctual warning growl. Inuyasha took a nervous step forward, ready to spring away at any time. "Kagome, you know who I am, right? I can help you, just please relax," he cooed, his hands up in a non-threatening gesture.

Every step that Inuyasha took forward, Kagome took one giant stride backwards. –thump - she had backed into a tree. With the flight option gone, her instincts turned to the fight option. She bared her teeth and growled as Inuyasha took another step and reached towards the Kilala-sized inu.

# kami, I hope this works # "Kagome, its me, Inuyasha, I know you're in there. Please calm down Kagome," Inuyasha tapped Kagome's pointed ears gently. Kagome watched the strange white-haired man walk closer with curiosity, he reached up and touched her pointed ears gently. Seeing that she didn't try to maul him, Inuyasha gathered his courage and pinched the tips of the furry appendages (ha! Didn't think anyone would use that in context of Inuyasha touching Kagome's ears, did ya?). Kagome's eye's drooped, along with her alertness.

#Inu...? Inuyasha? # her eyes cleared to their normal blue-brown and she recognized him for the first time. ::mate:: she barked softly, tapping him with her baseball-sized nose. (youkai language is very simple…and mate is the only thing that she could say, aside from alpha-male, but that's too formal for this occasion and their relationship)

Inuyasha looked down to her face and slowly removed his hands from her ears. Kagome turned and laid down with a small 'oomph' facing the direction of their camp and companions. Inuyasha sat down besides her leaning against the tree that Kagome had backed against earlier, barely not touching. The dog turned her large head to Inuyasha and woofed slightly ::mate, rest:: and exposed her dark gray side. Inuyasha nodded in understanding and put his back against the midnight fir.

# poor Kagome, having to be like this the whole day and night. I only had to be human during one night, but she is in an animal-form for the night after being demon all day. # Inuyasha sighed and looked up at the half-moon. "we should get closer to camp. It's still safer in numbers, even for demons," Inuyasha gave his trademark smirk hoping to win the girl over to protect the rest of the pack.

In the distance, Kagome picked up a feminine war-cry and a loud smack from camp, apparently Inuyasha heard it also, "and to make sure that Sango doesn't kill the lecher." Inuyasha stood up and Kag followed suit. They walked side by side in a comfortable silence, not like Kagome could say anything much anyway. Kagome went as far as the shadows of the camp before stopping where the others couldn't see her very well.

At that point, nothing Inuyasha could do would move the inu. "fine. I understand why you want to be in the shadows tonight. Just stay in my range of senses." Inuyasha whispered, scratching behind her left ear. He jumped across the clearing and into the tree that he had claimed as his since yesterday night.

The wind shifted and Shippou recognized the scent that he had come to know as Kagome's youki. "Kagome-okaa-san!" he yelled, jumping from his place between the two humans (keeping them from doing something fatal to the monk, nonetheless) . They followed Shippou's line of vision to a particular shadow with a pair of 'mystic-fire'(the stone, really pretty. Looks the opposite of opal) colored eyes staring out. All Kilala did was raise her head a moment and mew to acknowledge the she-demon's presence.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Shippou called like that was the only thing making her real.

"Oi, runt! Leave her alone right now," Inuyasha called, stopping him just inside the ring of light with his voice. The pair of mostly-brown eyes stared at Inuyasha and a small bark followed. Inuyasha stared back for a few moments, contemplating Kagome's okay. "feh, Kagome said that you could see her," Inuyasha said reluctantly, turning his back to the group on his perch.

With a yay, Shippou bounded into the shadows and straight into Kagome's face. #Oww! # Kagome went cross-eyed seeing the kit attached to her muzzle in a death-hug. # I…can't… breathe! # she thought, dipping her head to the ground to let Shippou slide off.

Thankfully, Shippou took the hint and fell off into the dirt between Kagome's paws. "are you okay Kagome-okaa-san?" the little kitsune asked, settling in between her paws. Kagome gave a small nod – a very human-like gesture – and settled her head next to Shippou. Kagome closed her eyes as she nuzzled the relatively young kit-pup. Shippou gave a tired yawn as he transformed into his animal form and laid his head over her front leg.

Kagome jumped a little at Shippou's animal form; or the fact that he had one at all. He had an auburn head that gradually turned into a light orange-white of his tail and he was about the size of an adult mortal fox. All the others could really see was a splash of red in the shadows after the initial 'pop' of transformation.

Kagome took a visual survey of the group and caught the corner of Inuyasha's eye. ::protect. Mate sleep:: Kagome woofed at Inuyasha. He shook his head no and looked out at the dark forest, scanning for any sign of trouble. Kagome's ears twitched, listening to the movements of her pack as they settled down for sleep. Sango laid down on one side of the fire, hoping it would deter the monk's hand, and Miroku sat against Inuyasha's tree on the opposite side of the fire. He seemed to silently promise to keep away while they were sleeping, like that would happen.

Even with almost no energy, Kagome was on high alert to everything going on and one thing she grinned inside about was to see how long after they fell asleep would Miroku's hand start traveling. She was betting about 15 minutes. Inuyasha caught her eye as she scratched the number fifteen in the dirt with her paw and pointed to the humans. Inuyasha nodded and Shippou sniggered at the bet.

Shippou hit the ground, causing five paw prints beside the number and securing his bet. Kagome gave him a disapproving look for a moment before getting up and stretching. She didn't say anything, so Shippou's bet was allowed. Kilala watched the small exchange with interest and padded over to look at the bets, she put down two paw prints and looked up at Kagome.

Kagome rolled her eyes and walked over to her pack to get something. Kilala and Shippou followed with interest while the oblivious monk and slayer drifted off to dreamland. Inuyasha took another look around in the dark and jumped down from the tree, stopping by the fire briefly to stir the partially-evaporated ink. Kagome looked up from her bag pathetically and Inuyasha rolled his eyes and stepped forward, he grabbed the stopwatch and checked that it worked. Kagome was glad that she had shown Inuyasha to work the watch and read it a while ago when she wanted her ice-skating timed.

Miroku gave a small snore and Sango turned away from the fire inadvertently baring her behind, signaling Inuyasha to start the watch. They didn't know exactly what it was, but as soon as Sango turned Miroku's unconscious hand started traveling and bringing the rest of his body with it.

* * *

Two minute mark: Miroku's hand found the fire and moved away. Inuyasha showed the cat the watch and she let out the cat equivalent of a 'shoot' and laid her head on Kagome's pack. Inuyasha looked on, seeming ignoring the others in watching the possessed hand.

* * *

Five minute mark: the now slightly-glowing fire-resistant hand went through the fire and hit the ink bucket with a 'dong', proving fire was a good barrier so far. Shippou slumped down like Kilala and gave a yawn, snuggling into Kagome's fir so that he was almost invisible. "if Miroku could do that when he was awake, we could have sent him into those fires instead of you going in to save that old woman," Inuyasha mumbled, scratching Kagome's ear absently. Kilala had disappeared around the 2.5 minute mark to do something else.

* * *

Fifteen minute mark: the hand had given up going through the fire and now went around. Sango's sleeping hand grabbed his mere inches from his destination and squeezed, digging her nails into the wrist to the point of cutting in slightly in warning. At least her nails would have been cutting in if Miroku didn't have his purple leather arm guards on at the time. Kagome slumped down like the other two animal-form demons and closed her eyes. Inuyasha looked down and grinned smugly, "I win," he said as his ears picked up the noise of Kilala returning in her big form, "and you have more training to do."

Kilala came in during the little intro and nodded. Kagome groaned and stood up, revealing the ball of red fir named Shippou. Kagome grabbed him by the scruff and deposited him by the fire so he wouldn't get cold. As soon as Kagome left the scent range of the young kit-pup, he started moving in his sleep. Inuyasha rolled his eyes slightly and draped Kagome's open sleeping bag over him so he could sleep. The kit-pup had gotten too attached to Kagome for Inuyasha's taste.

* * *

Clearing with Kilala and Kagome

The cream colored cat walked out to the center of the clearing with the black dog following. Kilala's flames lit up the area enough for them to see each other and Kilala gave the feline equivalent of an approving smile. ;; you look nice like that Kagome;; Kilala commented in her animalistic tongue, ;;I always knew that you were unique, and was more than you let on.;;

Kagome jumped slightly at Kilala's smooth voice, or more like the few words meowed and mostly gestures toward Kagome's form. :: I can understand you, why couldn't I earlier?:: she asked, sitting down lightly.

;; because you weren't paying attention and your mind was other where. Now, lets get you so you can fight properly in this form. I know that you've been training all day, so I won't push you too hard. Just attack me;; Kilala ordered, crouching down in a defensive position.

:: but… ::

;; attack!;; Kilala roared, faking an offensive strike onto thin air. Kagome only hesitated for a second before leaping to try to land on Kilala's back, but came about a foot short, not even budging the cat. Kilala looked down at the dog trying to stand back up, ;;no more jumping. It just made you look green, try hitting me instead.;; she instructed, even baring her tender spots slightly for a target.

Kagome jumped up onto Kilala's back in attempt to bite her neck, but just ended up being thrown off and landing square on her spine, paralyzing her for a few seconds in pain, :: Oww…!:: she whimpered, her legs sticking straight up in the air.

Kilala in the mean while sauntered up and grazed her saber-canines against Kagome's soft belly, ;;dead. Anyone could have killed you now, you need to learn to avoid landing on your back. Even if it means landing on your side, you'd still be able to defend yourself better. Get up and let's try again.;; Kilala nudged Kagome to help her get up.

Kagome complied and tried again to bite Kilala's neck, resulting in the same spin-numbing landing. This time, when Kilala got close to winning, Kagome dug her back paw under Kilala's belly and gave a good push. That levered Kagome up and gave her an extra second to get her bearings. This time the canines grazed the back of Kagome's neck.

;; better. Now lets last longer than a few seconds. You know that I use flight to get away, lets see if you can do anything. Begin;; Kilala didn't say anything to what Kagome should do before she started to attack. Kilala went for Kagome's neck and she immediately put up a mostly-blue barrier that bounced Kilala off and onto her side.

Kilala rolled up to her side and shook her head. When she looked at Kagome, her jaw went slack at the picture that appeared in front of her. The half-moon shone in the sky as Kagome took on the same glow from her barrier. Kagome looked back at Kilala to see if she was okay. Kagome looked like a true goddess like this and Kilala bowed her head in reverence.

The barrier disappeared as Kagome walked toward Kilala and out of the moonlight. :: are you okay? I didn't think that I could hurt you with a barrier, did I?:: Kagome asked, secretly pining for Kilala to look in her general direction.

;; I…I'm fine. Th…that was good with the barrier, good job;; Kilala shook off the 'humble' mode, but still didn't look in Kagome's direction. ;;that's good for tonight. Just keep working on your barrier and you'll be fine;; with that, Kilala left Kagome in the dark and walked back to camp.

Kagome waited a few seconds before following the glow of Kilala's flames. # its like she doesn't want to look at me anymore. Did I do anything wrong? I'll have to apologize to her # with that, Kagome put her personal barrier up to give her path a blue moon-like glow so she wouldn't trip.

A loud smack permeated the air and Kagome shook her head. She'd have to ask Inuyasha how long it took for him to win his bet with the no-doubt awake couple. With this time of night, they would be awake for a total of five seconds and fall right back to sleep… or at least pretend to go back to sleep.

Kagome entered the camp quietly and Inuyasha looked up to tell the time, but stopped immediately to look at Kagome. He saw her glowing with the barrier and, like Kilala, thought it was heavenly. Kagome gave a look that clearly said 'what?' and let the barrier's glow drop.

"Tw…twenty-nine minutes, thirty-eight seconds" Inuyasha said in a daze, dropping the watch back into her pack. The supposedly sleeping pair had their eyes cracked open, silently watching the large, black dog yawn and crawl under Kagome's sleeping bag and close her eyes.

After a few seconds, Kagome lifted her head a second to look over at the tow, Miroku was surely going to be sore in the morning when Sango was awake enough to hit back. He was practically on top of the slayer with one hand on her rear, and the other wrapped around her waste, inching north. Oh, yes, a lot of pain in the morning.

Kagome yawned again and looked over to Inuyasha, :: mate sleep:: she insisted and exposed her side, Inuyasha rolled his eyes and walked over to stir the ink one last time before settling against Kagome and pulling some of the sleeping bag over himself and closing his eyes. Kagome nodded and wiggled slightly to get comfortable with Shippou between her front paws and Inuyasha at her side.

* * *

Morning 15 minutes before dawn

- click-**FLASH**! – the camera went off, waking up both hanyous and Shippou. Inuyasha immediately stood up and grabbed the camera out of Sango's hand, ready to smash the contraption to pieces. Kagome looked up ::no!:: she barked as Inuyasha raised it above his head. He brought it down gently and threw it into Kagome's pack.

"feh, like that picture is going to matter anyway," Inuyasha shrugged it off, putting on an almost-convincing act of indifferent. In fact, he knew that Gin was going to see it when the film was 'de-veel-iped' and she wouldn't let it down. # great, that's all I need: a gushing mother #

* * *

well? That last part was just there to be funny, but the rest of the chapter wasn't much. The next chapter will definitely help with plot (I hope) that is currently almost non-existent. And if anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them.sorry if thischapter seems a little choppy, I was trying to blend pre-written and top-of-the-head and it didn't work very well.Until the next chapter, don't die! dark 


	19. the next morning

I can't really think of much to say except that I accept all roses In the form of reviews (and I only own Rumiko the bird demon and Reichou the black dog lord)

chapter 19: the next morning

* * *

Last time: "feh, like that picture is going to matter anyway," Inuyasha shrugged it off, putting on an almost-convincing act of indifferent. In fact, he knew that Gin was going to see it when the film was 'de-veel-iped' and she wouldn't let it down. # great, that's all I need: a gushing mother #

Kagome lifted her doggie head an inch off the ground and groaned. She was starting to feel her demonic power ebb away and the best she could describe it was it must have felt as close to a hangover that she ever wanted to get. The pre-dawn sunlight came through the trees and Kagome glared at it to dare it to come up any sooner. If she was a cat, she would hiss at it. But since she wasn't, Kagome settled with the glare.

Inuyasha rolled up from where he was sleeping beside Kagome and scratched her ears in a silent good morning. He then turned his attention to the thick black soup in last night's coals and gave it a good stir, also silently telling the others to keep their mouth shut about his less-than-gruff treatment from yesterday.

"so are we going to travel today?" Sango asked, putting some new kindling on the fire pit and lighting it up with one of Kagome's lighters for breakfast. As she did so, she noticed a drag pattern in the dirt around the fire from Miroku's original sleeping claim to between Sango's claim and the fire. She looked suspiciously at the houshi as he put on the innocent act as he grabbed some dry pancake mix for breakfast. "houshi…" she drew out his title sickly-sweet.

#uh-oh, she figured it out # he tried to sneak away from the immediate striking range of HiraiKotsu but was caught by Inuyasha who turned him to face Sango squarely.

"… did you sleep well last night?" she was fighting down an anger tic. The others sniggered at Miroku's expense as Kagome tapped Shippou with her muzzle to wake up… and to also get off her numb front paw. The red fox yawned, showing off his pink tongue, and turned back into his humanoid form shaking out his tail. Shippou caught sight of the show and put his hands behind his head to watch the show. Lets just say that Miroku got to sleep in a bit.

With the whack of HiraiKotsu welcoming the morning sun, Kagome inwardly cringed as she felt her bones and organs change and reorganize. It wasn't exactly painful, like she was feeling it with a lot of anesthetic that was promising to wear off at any moment, but felt weird. Kagome was glad that her sleeping bag was covering her after the transformation _just in case._ She grabbed her arm to check and there were her glorious clothes just as good as yesterday, and cleaner too!

"Kagome-okaa-san, are you okay?" Shippou asked, peeking under the sleeping bag that she was currently hiding under. Kagome looked up into his hazel eyes and smiled, showing that she was, indeed, fine. She pushed the bag off her and tried to stand up, only to wobble dangerously until Inuyasha grabbed her elbow to steady her.

"are you okay Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, searching her for any pain in her multi-colored eyes. Kagome nodded and tried to stand without any help.

She finally gave in and sighed, "just a bit woozy. Like I'm on an energy low or something. I'll probably be fine later after some rest,"

Inuyasha nodded and let her sit down on her pile of sleeping bag. "I'll carry you today so we can catch up on the time that we missed yesterday training you. Not like this happens often, but we have a time limit and you want to at least meet your chichi-oya before going to the castle for the ball. And we still need to send the response if you're up to it this morning so it will get there on time. And by 'us' I meant 'you'," Inuyasha poured the fresh ink into an ink jar that he pulled out of his haori and handed it over to the she-hanyou.

Kagome groaned and leaned over her pack to grab the scroll and her phoenix quill. Opening the scroll, she did a simple design to separate the notice and the response ( ex: () () ()… butterflies!), "what do you want me to write?" Kagome asked through a yawn, # its _way_ too early, why can't I sleep in? #

" how about this: why did you even invite me you sorry bas…"

"how about something that shows that you're at least partially mature," Kagome interrupted, pointing the ink-filled tip at Inuyasha like a dangerous weapon.

Inuyasha grumbled something incomprehensible before starting again, "_I thank you for your invitation and I am aware that you want me to come to the ball as much as I want to come. I will be there on time and I expect that I will have my room prepared for me. I will be bringing my we_…" Inuyasha saw Kagome tense and decided to save his butt from a sitting, "_I mean, lady Kagome of the Higurashi family as my guest. Prince Inuyasha, second son of Inutashio, of the western lands._ There, how was that?" Inuyasha said, hating deeply his official title that he had to use.

"not bad, a little stiff, but not bad," Kagome complimented, blowing on the parchment to dry the ink. "but what about the others? Won't they come also?" she asked, inspecting her handwriting in the deep-gray ink. It definitely looked better than the chicken-scratch of a ball-point pen or pencil.

"no, only one guest is allowed and the others prefer female relations to 'show off.' Miroku, Sango and Shippou will stay at Kaede's village while we are there." Inuyasha took the scroll and tossed it into the air where a small gray cloud caught it and zoomed off to the west.

"h…how did you do that?" Kagome asked as she watched the magic cloud. Inuyasha followed her line of sight briefly before shrugging nonchalantly.

"Sesshomaru and I are cloud-inu. You can tell that because we are from the white-dog clan. Dad was what I think is called a 'shishi," a god-inu youkai. Of course, we're often called 'lion-dogs' but I have no clue where that comes from. Why do you think my sword has a wind attack?" Inuyasha looked around at the group and Miroku (recently re-awoken) looking like he was about to bust a gut. "its because we have some control of the skies and the winds. It's also why it doesn't rain much when we're traveling. What's so funny monk?"

Miroku straitened up and looked Inuyasha in the eye, "I don't see you having any similarities between you and a carved temple guardian. In fact, I don't really see you as much of a temple guardian at all!" Miroku couldn't hold it any longer and doubled over in laughter.

"oh, yeah," Inuyasha drawled, "you haven't seen Sesshomaru in his demon form before, have you?" Miroku thought for a good few seconds before shaking his head no. "okay, Kagome's inu form. Bleached white with a lion's main and about ten meters tall. That a good idea for you?" they hadn't gotten much of a look for Kagome's demon form, so they had to guess in regular dog terms.

Miroku nodded vaguely and gave up, "so, we're going to Reichou's lands today, aren't we? Then we should get going, it's still a few days' journey away."

"I have to write a letter first before we leave; before I forget to write an apology to Koga," Kagome let out a whimper/sigh and took out her quill and paper, "the ink you made is only formal, right? It doesn't have anything specific to you does it?" Kagome asked before dipping her quill in. Inuyasha gave the go-ahead and she sent out to make a decent apology.

_Dear Koga-kun, I am sorry for injuring you. I… I was not thinking straight when you came and I felt… frustrated… for you interrupting Inuyasha and my practice-fight. And then when you insulted me (hopefully unintentionally, by the way) by calling me a half-breed wench. For a certain person, that's a term of endearment,_ Kagome sent a momentary glare at Inuyasha (who, luckily, didn't notice), _but it was insulting from you. I hope that we can still be good friends and allies. _# what should I put? Love? No, wrong impression. Sincerely? Too formal and cold._ # your friend, Kagome Higurashi_

Kagome sighed and put the cork back on Inuyasha's ink well. Inuyasha looked back at Kagome's sigh and picked up her bow and an arrow, "you don't know how to send a youkai letter, do you?" he held up the bow and arrow. Kagome took the weapon tenderly and silently sent him a questioning look. "point the arrow toward Koga's home and put your demon energy into it instead of your miko energy. It should land very close to him if it doesn't hit him in the first place," # please hit him, please hit him, please hit that sorry bastard! # Inuyasha chanted mentally as he watched Kagome close her eyes and mentally aim the arrow and release.

* * *

The dark blue arrow soared over the trees and out of sight like a daytime comet.

Somewhere near Kaede's village: "oh! Mommy! Mommy! See the pretty shooting star! Its blue!" cried a little six-year-old girl in a sky-blue yukata, tugging on her mother's arm and pointing skyward. Kaede looked up at the 'shooting star' and recognized it as Kagome's arrow and smiled before going back to her work.

* * *

"well, if we're all ready to go, let's go already!" Inuyasha the motivational speaker said, hefting up Kagome's bag and wobbling for a second before heading in the southwest direction. # how come the women have to carry such heavy stuff! # he thought as Kagome grudgingly trudged along behind him out of range of that heavy pack… just in case. Miroku and Sango shrugged and followed, Miroku lugging HiraiKotsu along.

"that's the last time you bet me, right? 'cause every time you lose, you'll be carrying HiraiKotsu!" Sango laughed, watching the two weaklings known as men walk ahead of the sane ones known as women and small demons (ho ha! Whole girl-power thing there, I'm over it now).

By mid-afternoon, Kagome was feeling the after-effects of her power-boost yesterday and was lagging behind. Inuyasha noticed and decided to speak up, "hurry up wench, we don't have all day and this trip is completely your fault!" Inuyasha waved the others ahead as he waited for Kagome to jog up to him. He leaned in close to Kagome's ears so the others couldn't hear, "I can carry you if you want. It's fine that you're tired, I just want to make it out of this area before nightfall because there's some, ah, dangers at night here and I know where we can camp safely." Kagome nodded and Inuyasha swept her up into his arms.

One giant leap took Inuyasha to the front of the 'pack' like before and next to Miroku. They saw that Kagome was almost asleep and didn't say anything. Kagome wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck unconsciously and dug her nose into his chest to inhale his wildly-soothing scent. The pine forest that they were in now nearly drowned out each other's scent and was slowly driving them mad.

Miroku and Sango exchanged looks silently as they observed the haninus. They knew that the I-can't-stand-you-and-I-wouldn't-if-I-didn't-have-to act was only in front of the humans and they really cared for each other's welfare constantly. Sango rolled her eyes and Miroku chuckled softly as they looked away from the two into the forest to keep away from danger. In truth, they didn't feel anything out of place whatsoever. There were a few small animals and demons, but nothing to worry about unless a Shikon shard suddenly showed up.

By nightfall, Inuyasha had led them to a clearing that had a lake in the middle of it. Inuyasha led them to a small hut on one shore and gestured for them to wait inside. Inuyasha shrugged off Kagome's yellow backpack with a silent deadly grin and carried the deeply-sleeping girl back outside. Shippou tried to follow, but was shoved back in by one of Inuyasha's feet. Sango and Miroku gave Kagome a worried look but waited inside anyway and started a fire for dinner.

"bonsai!" Inuyasha yelled, followed by a splash and a very feminine scream.

"Inuyasha!" everyone ran outside to see what had happened, "kisama (insulting 'you'), Ohen jana(damn it), kono-i-yerro (you bastard) BAKAYAROU (mother fucker)!…" Kagome's insults kept rolling off at her sudden wake-up call.

"I didn't think Kagome knew that many curses," Miroku whistled.

Sango nodded, "that's almost as bad as Inuyasha after he gets sat!"

"worse!" Shippou put in his two cents.

"meow!" (along the lines of yeah, wow, jeez, etc.)

Kagome waded out from the lake, her green moth-silk turning clingy and semi-transparent. "ECCHI! (horny!)" followed by a wallop of a slap sent Inuyasha into the lake also and Kagome stomping into the hut for a towel.

"well, that was a complete switch of rolls(from sango hitting miroku, to kagome hitting inuyasha btw)," Sango commented as she pulled out a second towel for Inuyasha after Kagome sat down by the fire attempting to dry her hair, " take this out to Inuyasha, he should be swimming back to shore by now." Miroku gave Kagome a look somewhere between humor and pity and walked out to Inuyasha.

"you know that you shouldn't have done that Inuyasha," Miroku intoned, handing the sopping hanyou a pink fluffy towel. (haha! Pink!)

Inuyasha shook himself off like the dog that he was and wrung out his haori before reluctantly grabbing the… yeach…. Pink towel. "after yesterday, she needed a bath anyway!" he said just loud enough for Kagome to hear from the hut.

"sit!"

#oh poor Inuyasha, getting sand on his wet clothes after washing them off, I guess he needs to go back into the water and take another bath. # Kagome thought sweetly, a feral grin plastering itself onto her face. Inuyasha saw her expression and knew it well. It was one that was feared by all that knew her personally enough to find her bad side. It was the say-one-more-thing-and-you-will-not-see-tomorrow look. Inuyasha paled and ran into the hut to, hopefully, find something to save his butt.

"he-hey Kagome. Do you feel better after that dip?" Inuyasha tried to dispel the vengeful energy crackling in the atmosphere. Kagome stopped for a second to catch up with the sudden change of subject. Inuyasha continued, "that lake is the last thing before going into you chichi-oya's lands. The lake is called the lake of renewal and I thought that you shouldn't be tired in dangerous lands. Right now we are in what I could call no-Inu's-lands. The land between the west and south-west territories."

Kagome sat down to listen to Inuyasha's political knowledge, proving herself wrong about him not knowing anything but survival tactics. "how do you know all this?" Kagome asked, staring at him through the fire.

Inuyasha gave a why-DON'T-you-know-this look and continued. "I'm a soldier on perminate leave. The space is about a kilometer wide and our fathers made a pact that continues between Sesshomaru and your dad that neither of the packs can fight in this area. You are safe here while Kagome and I head to Reichou's castle. If you are bothered by anyone, say that you are part of Inuyasha-ooji (prince Inuyasha's) cadre, they'll leave you alone. There are plenty of resources here and if you need to, you can barter with either side. Don't go into Raizen and Reichou's lands if you can. They tend to treat humans like a delicacy." With that morbid note, Inuyasha gripped Tetsuiga and leaned against the wall to wait for dinner.

"well…" Kagome looked around after a minute, struggling to find something to break the silence between the group, "at least you will be safe here while we're gone." Kagome rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment and turned to the 'sleeping' hanyou, "so. Since you seem to know so much about this area and how its run, why don't you tell us more about my dad." It was true, Kagome knew next to nothing about her dad and what he was like when he was alive.

Inuyasha cracked open a lazy eye and took in Kagome's still semi-clingy wet-clothes look. "your dad's a bit of an ass in this time, and I don't know if he would change in five-hundred years at all. him and Raizen are blood-brothers and you can never see one without the other."

"I knew all that already, I meant what is he like aside from being a pain." Kagome interrupted, dismissing the whole blood-brother thing. Yeah, it was one for the other for a common plight kinda thing.

Inuyasha studied Kagome's face for a second before continuing, "Sesshomaru's had to bail your dad out in wars more than once since I can remember. If you think I'm reckless, Reichou and Raizen are worse. But at least they have the power to go with their attitudes. Nothing's serious with them and they think life is a big laugh riot. That's what an east castle life does to you, and that's why I like wondering better than politics." Inuyasha closed his eyes for a second and continued, "if we run, we can make it to the castle by the afternoon tomorrow. That means no wimpy stops along the way." And with that warning, Inuyasha turned his attention to the clearing outside and tuned out the pack.

* * *

Nothing really happened in that chapter, but that happens and was necessary. Sorry for the long wait, but I didn't feel like writing and finals are coming up too soon for my taste. and I hope that my small integration of yuyu hakusho won't make you guys hate me...See you guys later! dark 


	20. journey to her father's lands

Wow, the twentieth chapter! I know you have all heard this before, but I didn't think I would make it this far! And as one of my reviewers pointed out, I am now in the category of fanfiction novels. This is my Christmas/Kwanza/Yule/Chanukah/new years/ Chinese new year/ whatever-else-you-can-think-of holiday season gift! Enjoy! And this chapter is dedicated to Akina, thanks for your caffeine-induced ideas!

* * *

Chapter 20: journey to her father's lands 

Last time: Inuyasha studied Kagome's face for a second before continuing, "Sesshomaru's had to bail your dad out in wars more than once since I can remember. If you think I'm reckless, Reichou and Raizen are worse. But at least they have the power to go with their attitudes. Nothing's serious with them and they think life is a big laugh riot. That's what an east castle life does to you, and that's why I like wondering better than politics." Inuyasha closed his eyes for a second and continued, "if we run, we can make it to the castle by the afternoon tomorrow. That means no wimpy stops along the way." And with that warning, Inuyasha turned his attention to the clearing outside and tuned out the pack.

This time: it was early, barely sunrise, and Kagome was ready and willing to go. The others were asleep still, but soon would awake because of the hanyou couple. "lets GO already! The sooner we get there, the longer I'll be able to find out about my dad!" Kagome was showing her feminine-hanyou strength as she 'attempted' to 'drag' Inuyasha toward the south-western lands. Inuyasha was now playing the role of a plow, with his heels dragging into the dirt to create two identical furrows of dirt.

"we're going to wait until the others wake up!" Inuyasha yelled, pulling Kagome back toward the hut. By this time, Shippou was awake and out on the porch drawing the humorous scene with his crayons.

"no! I want to go!" Kagome stamped her foot and tried to run for it.

"wait for the other's wench!" Inuyasha tackled her and pinned her to the ground, clearly messing up her recently brushed hair.

"don't call me that! And get off me!" Inuyasha noticed Kagome's black triangles and gained an invisible grin. Oh, yes, he didn't mind keeping her pinned, just… one more… inch…GOT IT!

Kagome gave an ear-splitting squeal as Inuyasha brushed the tip of her ears lightly. Just enough to send the sensitive fir into an overload of pleasure and… itchiness (yeah, that's what happens to me when people do that). Kagome's ears twitched quickly to get away from the teasing fingers.

She took a deep breath and let herself relax into the dirt to the effect that Inuyasha noticed that Kagome was flattening slightly and immediately stood up in fear of squishing his potential mate. Worry flashed briefly in his eyes as he kneeled down at Kagome's feet. Kagome took a deep breath then turned over and sat up, glaring at Inuyasha realistically (yeah, she's treating him like putty in her hands now). Kagome readjusted herself into a squat summarily to Inuyasha and continued the glare.

A momentary smirk was the only warning Kagome gave before she ran towards Reichou's lands. Of course she didn't get too far before Inuyasha shook off his surprise and pounced. "stay here!" Inuyasha yelled, grabbing onto her shoulders while the spell was taking effect.

"sit!" Kagome said in an automatic response, resulting in…

"momma! Momma! Look at what…I…drew?" Shippou came around the hut's corner, waving a piece of drawing paper. Now he was just standing there, his head cocked to the side, trying to figure out what in the worlds was going on. "umm…I guess you're busy soI'llcomebacklaterandshowyou,

bye!" Shippou ran back into the hut, his eyes threatening to fall out of their sockets.

"what's the matter Shippou?" Sango asked, looking up from her work on sharpening her kodachi (sword between katana and wakizashi).

Shippou sputtered for a couple of seconds before pointing out the door, "I… I don't know what they're doing, but I don't think its right!" Miroku and Sango looked at each other for a millisecond before racing each other out the door to see what had Shippou so rattled.

And there they were: Kagome and Inuyasha floating about a foot off the air in the most compromising, fully clothed, horizontal position that there was out there: they were foot to foot, chest to chest, head to head stuck to the other. And the only disappointing part was that their heads were close enough to be touching lips, but they were doing anything to avoid 'it.'

* * *

Conversation Shippou missed: 

"well, déjà vu?" Kagome asked with a dry chuckle, she was on bottom, again, but at least she wasn't underground this time.

Inuyasha groaned half in annoyance, half in trying to avoid instincts, and faced the opposite direction. "what the _hell_ does that mean anyway?" Inuyasha whispered furiously.

Kagome gained a thoughtful look and dared to cast a glance at Inuyasha, stirring up foreign emotions in her gut. "ah… one of my aunts taught it to me a while ago. I think it means something like 'hasn't this happened before' or 'I had a vision that this would happen' personally, I just like how it sounds." Kagome felt the spells on them weaken slightly and she tried to wiggle free.

Inuyasha immediately grabbed her arms and squeezed slightly, "don't do that!" he ordered in a gruff voice, this girl was just making the situation worse.

"hey you two! Aren't you supposed to be leaving? Or at least waiting until your wedding night!" Miroku called over, loosing his fight against laughing at the two 'stuck' people. Inuyasha, who was facing the humans, silently promised that Miroku wouldn't die because of his curse.

Kagome felt something against her leg, and she was sure that it wasn't the hilt of Tetsuiga. "hey, are you okay down there?" Kagome shifted her hip slightly to make sure, "'cause you better not be getting hard down there." Kagome whispered.

And then they felt Kagome's spell wearing off. One thought went through their minds before they came crashing down: uh-oh. Inuyasha's spell was still in affect, so when Kagome's spell let loose, they crashed hard.

"that had to hurt!" Miroku commented, as seriously as he could recovering from his previous laughter.

"shut up or you WILL get hurt!" came Kagome's muffled voice as she pushed, or at least tried to push, Inuyasha off so she could catch her breath from learning for the second time what a pancake felt like.

As soon as the spell released Inuyasha, he bolted for the cold waters of the lake, clothes and all. Hopefully, the cold water would shock himself enough to actually be able to leave with Kagome to go into another Inu's territory with his wits intact.

* * *

later in the day, Inuyasha and Kagome were taking a short break by walking and admiring the uninhabited beauty of the forest. At least Kagome was admiring the view. 

"trespassers! What are you doing in lord Reichou's lands?" a bass voice came, announcing the presence of a youkai guard.

Inuyasha gave a snort and stepped in front of Kagome. "I am Inuyasha-ooji (prince) and I have brought my alpha-female to speak with Reichou-sama (lord. You should know that if you read/watch anime) on business. Take us to him." Kagome didn't realize that the inu-guard (hehe, guard-dog! Woof woof!) had motioned for them to follow and Inuyasha had to start dragging Kagome along.

Once Kagome had regained her composure, all three were running to where Kagome assumed the castle would be. "um, Inuyasha," Kagome waited until the boy responded by flicking his hear into an 'I'm listening' position, "that wasn't your style. I wouldn't think that you would use your title instead of fighting," Kagome pondered.

Inuyasha sent Kagome a brief glance before responding, "believe me, I'd rather fight, but that would risk the peace treaty and one more war is not what we need on our hands." Inuyasha landed on a branch, waiting for Kagome to land on the same one, and pulled her onto his back for a more _private_ conversation.

"I didn't think that you could be civil Inuyasha (my thoughts exactly), now why don't you show it more often?" Kagome asked, relaxing her head to look over Inuyasha's shoulder.

"because I don't like it and I'm only doing this civilly so we don't get killed in the process. You still need a lot of training, pup," Inuyasha pointed out in a whisper, also showing that he cared for Kagome.

Inuyasha felt Kagome nod as she studied the guard that was leading them, and hoped that he hadn't heard the end of their conversation. The guard was buff and had very dog-like features; especially his head. Kagome was reminded of an Egyptian god named Anubis. The god was the Egyptian version of the Japanese Enma: the judge of souls. Anubis had a jackal head and a human body, much like this inu-guard in front of them.

The guard had closely-trimmed fir that was black and faded into a very tan shirtless body. (authoress drools and shorts out keyboard. Oops) there was a wide decorative necklace and two crossing belts across his torso. He had on a black hakama with a gold belt and carried a spear with a spiked ball on the other end. All in all, not a bad looking fellow(not bad, NOT BAD? HE WAS SEXY AND SINGLE! At least I hope he's single).

* * *

About an hour later, the threesome crested a hill and caught their first glance of the castle; Kagome was speechless. "I…I…its beautiful!" well, nearly speechless 

"welcome to Reichou's domain, and I am Jakkaru (jackal)" The guard waved his hand to encompass the valley below them. He looked at Kagome, giving her a critical eye. "And aren't you a little young to be alpha-female?"

"I… ah?" this was news to her. Since when was she an alpha-female?

Inuyasha stepped in front of the stuttering girl, "we're a relatively new pack: the Shikon jewel hunters, if you've heard of us. True, I am still part of the white pack, but I prefer traveling instead of a castle. I am leader of this smaller pack, and she," Inu gestured to the girl behind him, "is the one that brought our pack together. Now, if I have answered your questions, we would like to see your lords." Inuyasha brought his body posture up to an almost aristocratic positioning.

Jakkaru nodded and ran forward in the direction of the castle, leaving the hanyous to follow closely behind.

* * *

Reichou, a relatively muscular inu-youkai, sat back against his gold-and-leather throne, yawning at yet another day of absolutely NOTHING to do; being castle-bound and all. "so, Raizen," he looked over at the blonde demon that entered via hidden door behind the throne, "anything good happen?" 

The shirtless war-youkai shook his head and collapsed down into a slightly lower-set throne of cast iron and black leather. "no, nothing except for an invitation from up north from _Sesshomaru-sama_, the pompous stiff jerk, inviting us to the annual ball. I hear that his human pet has been given his blood and is now his 'adopted.' What a bore!" it was true, the two young lords were anything but aristocratic and even made Sesshomaru's younger brother look stiff. In modern terms, they would be loosely labeled as war-loving beatniks.

A knock came from the overly-large doors of the throne room, announcing the entrance of one of the guards. Reichou groaned, there went his 'nothing happened today' luck. "who is it?" he called out, why did these throne rooms have to be ridiculously BIG!

The door creaked open just enough for a guard's head to pop in. it was Jakkaru, the newbie. "sir, there are two guests here to see you. Its Inuyasha-ooji and his bitch. Are you willing to see them?" Reichou could smell a female scent coming from the room spice with agitation after the request.

"willing, yes. wanting, no." Reichou spoke up, then turned to his best friend and blood-bond brother (that's a mouthful), "no one wants to deal with an agitated bitch." Raizen nodded, he couldn't smell as good as inu-demons, but he could sense the negative spike in one of the room's occupants.

* * *

In the waiting room. 

Kagome had heard the guard's comment about being Inuyasha's bitch, "I'm not anybody's bitch. I'm my own person and I don't want to belong to _him_ of all people!" Kagome faced the guard watching them and pointed to Inuyasha.

Or at least where Inuyasha was _supposed_ to be. Kagome jumped when a pair of red-clad arms wrapped around her shoulders to calm her down. " as far as youkai society is concerned, yes you are my bitch. You are under my protection, thus mine. And this is all for you when we could be shard hunting instead." The guard, Jakkaru, came in and nodded for them to follow, "just remember, don't speak unless spoken too and I am right behind you," Inuyasha pushed Kagome forward slightly so he was only in her peripheral vision, but kept his hand on her shoulder for comfort.

* * *

"…no, fifty silver that she's an old human hag and she's…" Reichou straightened and adjusted his black gi at the sight of the guest's entrance. Their jaws dropped at the sight of the ebon-haired beauty, "…beautiful." 

"I win, she's a demoness. And a beaut at that," Raizen agreed, straightening up to show his toned body.

"I see you've managed to catch a good one, Inuyasha, if only your brother had your luck. What's her name?" Reichou waved his hand for the two to come closer. Kagome took a spare glance up at the two lords and then back down to the obsidian tiles.

Inuyasha pushed Kagome forward directly in front of the black-inu lord and stepped back, "its better that you ask her that yourself, Reichou."

The lord gave a knowing smile and looked down to the girl in the green and orange kimono (Kagome changed to the skirt when they were waiting). "so, little one," that struck a memory and Kagome looked up into his face briefly, "what is your name?" the inu in black gi and gray hakama kneeled in front of Kagome and put his hand under her chin to make her look up. "shy now, or are you always like this?"

Kagome shook her head no and looked anywhere to avoid locking eyes with her future father. "k-Kagome," she whispered, almost too quiet to hear, "My name is Kagome."

Reichou nodded and sat back down on his throne, "what brings you here, Kagome? And may I say that is a lovely name."

Kagome blushed as the compliment before clearing her throat, "ah…" all this work getting here and she hadn't even thought of what to say to her father. "ah…"

"lets start again. What type of demon are you?" Raizen interrupted, seeing the nervousness in her posture.

"I'm black inu-hanyou," she paused for a moment, daring to look up, "sir."

The two lords looked at each other before Reichou took his turn, "there are not many black inus left, thoroughbred or not, where do you come from?"

"um…" Kagome looked over her shoulder at Inuyasha, whose face was currently not giving up anything useful, "its more like a when. I'm from 500 years in the future and was hoping to find out more about my _dad's_ side of the family. But where, exactly, is a town called Tokyo in my time."

Kagome could see Reichou's mind reeling under his thoughtful facade. With his fist under his chin, he studied the young girl's features, trying to determine if she was telling the truth or not. He had heard of a miko-turned-hanyou that was from 500 years in the future, but dare this be her? She certainly looked like what she was described like, except for her clothing. The miko was said to wear a hellishly short skirt and bared an indecent amount of skin. This hanyou was wearing a kimono and the only skin showing was her head, neck, and hands; even her feet were covered.

"and who, Kagome, is the one you call father?" Raizen asked, mentally going through the small list of black inus left. And none of the black inu males born in the next 500 years would be old enough to mate yet.

Kagome started shaking slightly, looking to Inuyasha for help. The only response that she got was a look that clearly said: your mess, get yourself out of it. Kagome took a deep breath that betrayed her next answer, "I have been told that you are my father, Reichou-sama," Kagome let out, barely even audible to her own ears.

* * *

Bwa-ha-ha! I think this is a great place to stop, even though it's a bit short. A note to Tohru-Honda: welcome to the Inuyasha fan girl circle! I hope that you enjoy the show as much as everyone else! And if you have any questions, I most likely am able to answer them. 

Merry Christmas to everyone and I have a live journal account at w w w . live journal . com / users / dark inu fan / (you know the thing, copy, paste, erase spaces, enter.) for those that do check it out, I have a question on the 23rd and I hope that you guys can help, thanks!


	21. past meets future heir and dinner

Yes, I admit freely that I am pure evil with a capital 'E.' someone was confused by the term blood-bond brothers, so here is the definition: blood-bond brothers are best friends (in this case, two guys, so its brother) that decide to form a permanent bond with each other. What they do is (please don't try this at home) slit a cut on their palms and place the wounds together. The blood is exchanged between the two friends and creates a blood-bond. This is seen in the movie The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. In the demonic sense, the two that are blood-bonded also gain some traits of the other. Like when Raizen has his guard down, his hair turns black, and Reichou's hair has blonde streaks in it when he fights. The bonding is like a less formal form of the adoption between Rin and Sesshomaru. I hope that this helped you.

Disclaimer: if you haven't heard of the name before in the show Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha, it's mine.

* * *

Chapter 21: past meets future heir

Last time: Kagome started shaking slightly, looking to Inuyasha for help. The only response that she got was a look that clearly said: your mess, get yourself out of it. Kagome took a deep breath that betrayed her next answer, "I have been told that you are my father, Reichou-sama," Kagome let out, barely even audible to her own ears.

This time: Reichou leaned forward slightly, trying to catch the words that came out of the female hanyou's mouth, "what did you say? I thought that you just said that you were my daughter! That would be impossible because I have never been with any woman that I know of."

"its true sir," Kagome whispered just loud enough for the three others to hear. Reichou flushed and then burst out laughing.

"you, a person I only met five minutes ago, expect me, the black dog-demon lord, to believe that you are of my blood?" he burst out laughing again, "come here, whelp." A black tendril of magic snaked its way around Kagome's body and suspended her upside-down mere inches from her 'father.'

His face suddenly serious, he snorted on the miko-hanyou, "and what proof, if any, do you have for me? Because if you are truly lying, I will send you to my soldiers to kill you, no matter what your 'mate' says." Kagome paled, but nodded vigorously.

"I…I think I can show you 'proof' if you just free one of my hands so I can get it out," Reichou looked dubious, "please, I can't prove anything unless I show you with my hands! I can't tell you anything because I don't remember you enough to prove anything!" Reichou relaxed his hand gesture holding the magic tendrils in place enough for Kagome to move her hand to the top of her haori.

She ran one of her claws along her collarbone to snag the gold-twist chain that was specific to the dog-print pendant. Using her fingers, she delicately worked the necklace out from her haori and torso-binding (in my story she gave up on the Victoria's Secret bra for something that would get her breasts out of the way (especially shooting her arrows)), careful not to let the bottle of jewel-shards and a Celtic knot pendant fall out.

Kagome held up the pendant for Reichou's inspection, holding it up to compare with the nearly-identical one around his own neck. "I'm from 500 years in the future and my mom gave that to me when I found out that you were my dad and not some human bastard's," Kagome's voice dripped venomously for a moment and Reichou looked up suspiciously.

"where did you get this, pup?" Kagome flinched at her 'father's' tone.

"I told you, my mom gave that to me 500 years in the future!" Kagome pleaded, looking up… at the floor… in defeat.

"eb enim erevfor, ym evol, ym dlihc," Kagome sang, a tone of sadness in her voice, "peels erevfor ni ym smra, ym byba llod." (translation: be mine forever, my love, my child. Sleep forever in my arms, my baby doll) Reichou joined Kagome with the second half of the lullaby, muttering most of the words in thought.

"where did you learn that, seer?" he asked, tightening the cords of black once again around the girl.

"I'm not a seer, but that's the only thing I remember from my dad alright!" the rebellious fire lit her eyes, "and are you going to let me go or not?" with that, Reichou released his grip on the spell, allowing Kagome to meet gravity and study the lovely marble and jade pattern for a second. Then she felt red arms surround her and pull her flush to his body.

"the only person aside from me that knew that song was my mother, and she's dead. You are trustworthy… for now," Reichou took one last look at his daughter before turning, "if you are willing, stay the night." He waved a servant that was in the shadows off to get a guest room prepared.

The shadow moved and slipped out of the doors quietly, leaving the hanyou couple completely alone. Once done, Kagome slumped down to the floor (which she had met earlier) and looked up at Inuyasha, "I told you he was an ass," he mumbled, keeping on alert to who could be potentially dangerous. Kagome nodded and leaned her back against Inu's legs, almost tipping him off balance.

There were a few moments of companionable silence before a red-headed demon came in. "yer 'oom er 'eady, milady," he said and bowed with a flourish of his crimson locks, revealing a small horn directly behind his bangs. It took a second for Kagome to 'hit pause' 'rewind' and 'slow play' his phrase before nodding and standing up with Inuyasha's help.

The red-head grinned and led the way, "Jin's the name and wind's my game, pleased to meet you!" he held his hand out to Kagome. She took it gently and shook it, smiling back hesitantly. "don' worry, onna, I 'on't bite you. I heard that you said that you were Reichou's kid from the future, 'ow can that be?"

Inuyasha was only paying half his attention to the babbling idiot, the rest memorizing the layout of the castle in case of a quick retreat needed. "she's not going to tell you how, wind demon," Inuyasha growled out, stepping close to Kagome.

Jin nodded, sensing the best way to keep his life was to shut up, and led them down the hall to a shoji door. He opened it and allowed the guests in. "this is the guest wing and I hope you like your room. We don't have many guests here right now, so if you need anything, just yell for me." He bowed himself out and shut the door.

"I don't trust him," Inuyasha stated simply, breaking the few seconds of silence. Kagome turned from the door to Inuyasha, giving him her version of a death glare.

"if that is the Jin that I think he is, he won't cause us any trouble." She said, remembering one of the e-mails that she had gotten from her cousin, detailing about the tournament he was in and who he met.

"he's a _wind_ demon if you didn't hear him," Inuyasha waved his hand out in the general direction of the door. Kagome turned to face him fully, placing her hands on her hips and placing an I-really-don't-want-to-do-this-right-now look on her features.

"not all wind demons are evil. And if you're implying Kagura, she doesn't want to fight you ever! If you would pay attention before barging in, you would notice that she doesn't really fight unless she's being watched…" a knock on the shoji frame cut Kagome's tirade short.

Kagome sighed quietly and opened the door to see a young girl, about 8 or 9, holding a folded kimono and shaking slightly from nervousness. Kagome bent down to the girl's height and smiled gently, "yes, is there anything that you want?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically and held up the kimono, "my masters wish for you and lord Inuyasha to join them for dinner tonight as their guests. If you want, there is an indoors artificial hot spring that you can use!"

Kagome looked back to Inuyasha for permission, "I don't smell anything evil, and you trust them, but keep up your guard." With Inuyasha's version of permission, the two girls left for the guest bath house. Inuyasha growled to himself slightly and closed the shoji.

Inuyasha found that their room was an outside one that led to a porch for watching the sun set over the mountains. The moment he sat down on the porch, another knock came from the shoji. "WHAT!?!" Inuyasha yelled, seriously not wanting to get up from his seat.

"L…Lord Inuyasha, my masters noticed that you were in traveling clothing when you were in audience with them and requested that…that you would wear something from here." Inuyasha looked around the outer shoji to look at what he suspected to be the earlier servant's twin. This one was a boy and they both had electric-blue hair cut in what Kagome said was a pixie-cut.

After a few seconds, Inuyasha nodded and allowed him into the room to prepare him for the castle's standard of being presentable.

* * *

"Oh, this feels so GOOD!" Kagome giggled, sinking into the whirl-pool sized steaming bath. (about 25' X 25'X 4')

"let me wash your hair, lady Kagome!" the blue-haired girl called from her kneeling position on the edge of the pool. Kagome nodded and sunk down to the bottom of the pool, thoroughly soaking her hair. Kagome popped up right at the edge, startling the girl.

"sorry about that, Elektra (want see that movie!)," she said as she sat on the built-in bench and leaned against the edge. Elektra started in on Kagome's hair with the sakura scented shampoos while Kagome used the same scented soaps with a wash-towel. "do you like working here Elektra?" Kagome asked absently, hoping to strike up a conversation instead of plain silence.

"oh, yes, Kagome-sama! I get to work indoors, I have a nice room, and when I'm lucky, I get to see Jin-sama when he's working out!" Elektra let out a set of giggles before tapping Kagome to signal her to wash the shampoo out.

Kagome came back up and sent Elektra a sly look, "so you like him, don't you?"

She nodded, then looked around if afraid to be heard, "please don't tell the young master, Kagome-sama! I'd be crushed if he finds out!"

Kagome nodded dutifully, "only if you stop calling me 'Sama', it makes me sound important," Kagome grinned at herself.

"but you are important! You're Inuyasha-sama's female! And you say that you're Reichou-sama's daughter!" Elektra accidentally pulled Kagome's hair slightly in her panic.

Kagome winced slightly and put her hand over Elektra's, "its okay, now how much more time do I have to enjoy this bath?" Kagome dunked her hair again to get the second round of shampoo off.

"only a few more minutes if you want to be on time with the lords. Because we still have to do your hair and you have to pick out a kimono!" Elektra was a true girly-girl for a demoness. Her favorite time with the female guests was picking out the kimono and she had the perfect idea for lady Kagome: a baby blue one with yellow vines on the sleeves. The obi would be yellow also. That was perfect!

"I'm ready to go!" Kagome said, stepping out of the pool and grabbing a robe while the servant was zoning out, "thinking about your boyfriend?" she whispered in the girl's ear, causing her to jump and almost fall into the pool. Kagome caught her elbow and prevented a splash-down.

"H-hai, lets go pick your kimono," she suggested, all the while blushing to the roots of her hair, effectively turning them purple. Kagome grinned and followed her to the changing rooms.

* * *

"please Inuyasha-sama! You have to wear the paint!" he agreed to the new Gi, he agreed to brush out and calm his unruly hair, he even agreed to a small haircut (only two inches) but barely. Painting royal markings on his face went too far! Yeah, they were there already, stripes and moon, but they were the same color of his face and could only be seen when looked for closely.

"no!" the boy, Denki (electricity), held up the purple and maroon paints and put on his most pleading face. Inuyasha took one look at the boy and somehow a mental recording of Kagome ran through his head:

" come on Inuyasha! its only this once and you'll look cute with it on!" he protested then and Kagome still crammed the baseball cap on over his ears.

Inuyasha shuddered at the memory, his ears had hurt for a week afterward! And besides, the paint wasn't as lethal as he made it out to be. Inuyasha grudgingly nodded, sitting down and letting the boy outline his cheek stripes in purple before filling them in with the same color. He tried to smooth out the jagged edges, but Inuyasha stopped him, not liking how the 'smooth edge' looked like a thicker version of his brother's stripes.

Next was the crescent moon, hidden by Inuyasha's unruly bangs (you never see Inuyasha's forehead in the series or manga, so in my story Inuyasha has a crescent like his brother), was painted a darker shade of pink to look almost maroon. In all, the painting made Inuyasha's markings the exact opposite colors of Sesshomaru's. Inuyasha looked into a polished silver mirror and groaned, he looked royal!

By now, Inuyasha's mantra was coming full force: 'this is for Kagome, this is for Kagome, this is for Kagome…' "I hate looking like my brother!" he messed up his bangs from where they were parted to show his crescent and to make his dog-ears look smaller.

"I'm sorry if I displease you, Inuyasha-sama, but I am only following orders and I have no idea what your brother looks like." Denki was shaking again, like he was expecting to be struck for his stupidity. Inuyasha may hit Shippou constantly, but it was only when he needed it. This boy here didn't need to act like this.

"dude," Inuyasha didn't notice that he'd used one of Kagome's futuristic words, "its okay. I won't hit you and I only don't like being reminded that I'm royal most of the time. You don't have to call me 'sama' if you don't want to." Inuyasha let his uncaring mask slip for a second as he looked at the diminutive servant boy.

The boy nodded, "now that you are prepared, we can go to the dinner hall and wait for your mate."

Inuyasha restrained himself, only yelling at the boy in his mind, 'she's not my mate!' Instead, he looked calmly at the boy and stood up, "lead the way."

* * *

the shoji screen slid open to reveal the female servant that had taken Kagome for the bath, "may I present lady Kagome of the great dog clans," she said, sliding the door completely open to reveal…

* * *

(should I stop? – readers get out floppy discs of viruses- NOOO! I don't need any more viruses!)

* * *

…to reveal the most beautiful thing in the world: Kagome. She was wearing the blue kimono and had her hair tied up in a complex knot, keeping some strands down to frame her face. Her face was carefully schooled, keeping the look of divinity, in fact she practically glowed with beauty. "you truly look like a princess now, Kagome" Reichou turned to Inuyasha, "and she's quite a catch under those rags that she had on earlier!"

a flicker of wrath passed Kagome's eyes before kneeling down beside Inuyasha and across Raizen (who actually put on a shirt – it was yellow). Inuyasha helped her kneel stiffly while getting a flash of her thoughts, 'Damn this kimono, Damn this obi, I CAN'T BREATHE!' Inuyasha blinked in shock, were these his thoughts, or did he really hear her thoughts?

Inuyasha leaned in close to Kagome and whispered in her ear, "don't worry, I'll try to make dinner quick and then I can help you get out of that binding." Kagome sent him a quick 'thank you' with her eyes before turning her attention to Reichou.

"I have heard rumors, Inuyasha, that you are hunting for the jewel shards with a miko that wears a sluttishly short skirt. Maybe that's what I should tell Uwakionna (bimbo, slut. A character that you will meet at Sesshomaru's ball)! To close up that top and rip off her bottom!" Reichou laughed, soaking in the hanyou's embarrassment.

"who is this 'Uwakionna' person, Inuyasha? anyone I should know?" Kagome asked, staring at him from the corner of her eye.

"no, it's just a wench that has been after my political power since I can remember. She thinks that an open top will attract me and get me to mate with her," Inuyasha saw Kagome's suspicious glare, he had to defend himself before he got sat, "she's nothing like Kikyo! I never like Uwakionna! She's a slut!"

"so what about that miko? I heard that you don't go anywhere without her, for personal reasons I presume…" Raizen butted in, knowing that they were trying to split the young couple up so they had their chance at the young demoness Raizen was sitting across. (yes, they're guttered)

Both Inuyasha and Kagome turned red at that statement. That had crossed the line, "um, excuse me, but I'M that miko that you are so charmingly referring to. And our relationship is nothing that concerns you, thank you." Kagome was red from anger and it resulted in a red stone mask. She oh-so-gently reminded them of Sesshomaru then.

"you do not speak up unless spoken too wench!" Raizen stood up and leaned over the low table to teach her some manners.

Inuyasha caught his wrist before it was even close to her face, "Raizen-sama, I will teach my mate to hold her tongue in public in the privacy of our room, NOT in front of others. And it is not your responsibility to punish her either, Reichou."

This is when the meal was brought in. 'saved by the dinner bell' Kagome thought, picking up her chopsticks and trying to remember her best table manners. 'okay, elbows off table, be silent, and eat small bites' she thought, admiring all the wonderful food, including garden rice (fried rice) and sashimi sushi (raw sushi). The nice thing about meal time is that the meals were best done properly in _silence_.

* * *

it was later that night, there had been no other major mishaps and Inuyasha excused himself and Kagome early because she looked nearly pale enough to pass out. A double futon had been put in their room while they were at dinner and they both blushed at that.

"come here. I'll get you out of your obi before you pass out for the night." Kagome nodded gratefully and backed up into Inuyasha's arms. After a few seconds, Kagome took a heavy, and needed, breath. "consider that obi your punishment for talking out of turn earlier. It was right to defend yourself, but that was not the place."

Inuyasha untangled the pale green securing ribbon from the obi and handed it to Kagome to tie the undermost kimono shut. "domo arigatou gozaimasu (thank you very much) Inuyasha!" she exclaimed, flopping down on the futon to catch her breath from not being able to move for the past hour or so. Kagome had something like 10 layers on and she striped them off for favor of the white yukata underneath.

Inuyasha watched the display of 'freedom' with amusement, ending up falling on the futon side closer to the outer door (that Inuyasha had left cracked open). "feel better?" Kagome nodded and proceeded to lift her chin to look behind her (or above her) to the garden that was outside the shoji screen. "you do know that how you have your head is a way to submit to a male, don't you?" Inuyasha growled slightly, stepping closer to his 'victim.'

"no, but should I worry?" Kagome smirked, looking at Inuyasha down her nose, but keeping her neck exposed.

Inuyasha kneeled down beside her, something foreign dancing in his eyes, "with most other males, yes." He whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She moved her head to look Inuyasha in the eye with that same foreign look in her eye, but not as needy. "get used to wearing that type of kimono. While we were waiting for you," Inuyasha sent Kagome a small glare, "Reichou and Raizen offered that we can stay until the ball and we can travel together up there. You can get to know your father better."

"but what about the others?" Kagome was propped up on her elbows, giving Inuyasha full view (sigh, gutter).

"we…we'll send them a letter to tell them our plans. They'll be fine." Inuyasha's eyes weren't quite making it to the face.

Kagome sat up fully, "you know how to write in human, so you send it," she suggested, walking outside to watch the sun.

All intentions went out the proverbial window and Inuyasha stood behind Kagome, "with us staying here, they offered to train you in their 'techniques'."

"what?!"

* * *

good place to stop and not much of a cliffie. I DO have a valid excuse for the past 3 weeks! The first week my computer was in the ER with something like 22 viruses. the second week I was working on my e-mails, 150/160 were new chapters that I read. And the third week I was really typing this on top of my homework. I hope that this satisfies you guys.

Oh, and hate reviews really _do_ work! –rolls eyes- what can you do to stop others aside from yourself to stop reading. dark


	22. breakfast and the first day

People should be glad I'm doing this this week and not next week (because I have a school competition going on right now. Not really much else to say.

Disclaimer: I have no money, thus cannot own inuyasha-gumi or Raizen or Jin from Yu Yu Hakusho. And this is why I'm in the competition.

* * *

Chapter 22: Breakfast and the First Day

Last time: All intentions went out the proverbial window and Inuyasha stood behind Kagome, "with us staying here, they offered to train you in their 'techniques'."

"what!"

this time: "what! I can't do that! Did you _not_ notice them hitting on me during dinner?" Kagome started pacing the room, forgetting that her yukata wasn't that securely tied.

"'hitting on' I didn't see them strike you." Inuyasha commented, slightly confused.

"Lemme put this how you would understand. They were trying to break us up and flirting with me. If I were to train with them, it would be a giant neon sign saying 'look at me, I don't care if you flirt with me'!"

Inuyasha had taken up following behind Kagome in her tirade, "not if I'm there!"

"yeah, if you're there, I'll only get embarrassed! You can't come!"

"you can't not go! They're the only ones that can show you what you can do specifically! And I won't let you get 'hit on' like you said they were doing."

Kagome whirled in her path and Inuyasha nearly knocked her over because of the sudden stop. "oh, Inuyasha, that's so sweet of you!" she looked up his face, seeing udder confusion in his features because of her abrupt mood change.

"wait, weren't you just mad at me?" Inuyasha shook his head and stepped back to reestablish his personal bubble.

Kagome stepped forward, "yes, but you're so chivalrous!" Inuyasha stepped back again.

"eeto (umm)…?"

"okay, so you're always chivalrous, but its sweet that you always protect me!" Kagome stepped forward again and Inuyasha looked down to her face, accidentally letting his eyes travel a little too far.

"check your front" Kagome looked down and 'eeped', her yukata had come loose slightly and was showing a fair amount of cleavage and the torso binding around it.

"sit! I'm going to bed," Kagome about-faced and buried herself in the futon's sheets.

* * *

"she's a feisty one. And they're arguing! She'll be a nice mate once I break her." Reichou laughed as he sipped some of his warm sake. The brothers were on the complete opposite side of the castle and could hear their guests clearly.

"you're not talking about the horses, are you? With them arguing, it just makes it easier for them to… predominately separate and make her available." Raizen agreed, pouring himself some of the drink.

"and females are so hard to come across. Especially with the same breed as me."

* * *

Inuyasha peeled himself off of the floor and looked at the lump that was Kagome, "where am I supposed to sleep, 'mate-to-be'?" he said slyly, practically seeing how red she was under the sheets.

"outside!" came the muffled reply and a bare hand pointing to the shoji screen.

Inuyasha grinned and sat down on his side of the double-futon. Leaning over where her head was, he whispered his come-back, "but its cold outside tonight, and you have all this room on the futon, so why can't I sleep inside?" he flopped down on top of Kagome and pretended to fall asleep.

Kagome pulled the covers down to her chin and looked at the 'sleeping' hanyou. "cute. Real cute." Kagome monotoned trying to get up from the futon to find that Inuyasha had pinned her to the mat via her waist. "fine. You win for tonight, just don't try anything" she huffed and turned away, missing the famous 'I win' Inuyasha grin (hehe it rhymed!).

* * *

The sun burned through the shoji screen and through Kagome's eyelids, causing her to groan and roll over on something hard with an 'oomph.' She cracked her eyes open slightly to see what she had run over and all she saw was red. "good morning, sleepyhead!" Inuyasha said from his prone position pinned under her. She looked down to his face and growled, even after over a year of dawn-break break-camp traveling, she was not a morning person at all.

"shut up Inuyasha before I decide what to do to you for being _this_ cheerful first thing in the morning." Kagome rolled off, quickly re-adjusting her sleeping yukata before showing off too much skin. A knock came from the door and Kagome quickly went to open it.

it was Electra from last night with a new pile of clothes for the both of them. "I hope that you slept well lady Kagome, I have new clothes for you to wear for combat training after breakfast." She spotted a shirtless Inuyasha prop himself up off the bed, "And some clothes for lord Inuyasha also!"

Kagome nodded thankfully and took the outfits from the servant. "arigato, Electra-chan." The girl left and Kagome tossed Inuyasha the slightly larger and baggier set of clothes, leaving herself the more petite set, both a shade of crimson and maroon. "out on the patio, I'm getting dressed first." She practically shoved Inuyasha out of the room.

A minute later, Kagome came out in her outfit to model briefly. Her hakama was maroon with crimson stars and the opposite for her haori. Inuyasha went in and changed into an identical outfit. "breakfast?" Kagome nodded in agreement and it only took them five wrong turns and tracking down Jin to find the breakfast room.

Once they entered, Reichou looked up and grinned slightly, "glad you finally decided to join us. I trust that you have been informed that my brother, nephew and I will be working with you for the next week. And may I say that you look lovely in that outfit?" he virtually buttered Kagome's toast with extra creamy.

Kagome took a piece of aforementioned toast and took a bite, "no you may not. And may I please ask who your nephew is?"

Jin looked up and grinned, "tha' wo' be me, lass. An' until da gets a demon with the same "fightin' spirit" as him, I'm the heir of these lands." He grinned and took a sip of whatever was in his cup with a bluish color.

"sorry to say this, but in just under 500 years, you're going to be out of the job and onto another one. I know this because I know who, but I can't say who they are. Maybe in the future when we finally meet, then I will tell if you don't know already." Kagome daintily sniffed the bluish liquid and took a sip. To her surprise, it tasted just like Gatorade (I don't own) and downed the entire thing.

"how you can drink that stuff, I don't know," Inuyasha commented, trying to pass off what they called breakfast until he could snag something decent from the kitchens. The blue drink they were serving looked like that nasty water that Kagome insisted on drinking after battles.

" I like it Inuyasha, it reminds me of an American drink that one of my friends brought back for the trip home. It was called Gatorade or something like that," Kagome swirled the last of the drink in her cup before gulping the rest down.

"yes, it's a bit of a acquired taste. A specialty to these lands only actually." Reichou commented, taking a sip of his own drink. Raizen bowed himself out quickly, this conversation was a little too sweet for his taste, and left to set up the training grounds for the day. "I guess in a few minutes we will start you off, Kags. I hope that you're ready for some fun," he snickered a bit, covering it with a piece of egg.

"don't. call. Me. Kags. I have a name and it's ka-go-me, got it?" Kagome bit out and followed Raizen example to split. Inuyasha winced, remembering when Kagome had given the same treatment to himself before she got used to his unique form of endearment.

"use her full name if you don't want to be killed or seriously injured," he suggested, hiding his own grimace behind a sip of the potent liquid.

"we'll see about that hanyou, we'll see." With that, the other brother left, leaving an amused Jin and an insulted hanyou at the low table.

Inuyasha took his time with the last slice of toast and then looked up at Jin. They nodded in silent agreement and left without a word for the training grounds. When they arrived at the 'training grounds,' they saw the brothers discussing what they should do first, while Kagome stretched out by doing some simple maneuvers on the balance beam.

As soon as Inuyasha and Jin exited the building, Kagome felt their presence and eyes watching her. She grinned to herself and did a handspring twist to dismount facing the boys. "I did gymnastics when I was younger because my mom made me. she said it was better for me to learn how to avoid a fight and not get hit than to learn to fight. Sometimes I still wonder why," Kagome put her hand on her hip in a cocky posture.

"good. You shouldn't be fighting when there are others to protect you," Inuyasha affirmed, folding his hands in the haori in his own cocky position. Kagome puffed up in offence, then withered.

"you're not going to be able to protect me all of the time Inuyasha and you know that. And with me being… me, I can and will attract unwanted, and dangerous, people when you are not around. It's good that I can learn to fight so I don't have to depend on you constantly." Kagome stopped there, seeing Inuyasha's posture become more unsecure by the second.

Inuyasha dropped his head like he was being scolded like an ignorant child. He turned and walked back inside, fully intended on leaving and never looking back, 'she said she doesn't need me anymore, She said it herself. Then what am I doing here with her?' Inuyasha thought, going inside to see if he could track down his traveling clothes. 'and she has the others to protect her. I always thought that she'd need me, but…'

A pair of dainty hands landed on his chest, stopping him lightly. Inuyasha looked up and into a pair of multi-colored eyes that shone mostly blue, reflecting her inner turmoil. "Inuyasha," she looked into his moist molten eyes, "please don't leave. I still need you, and I will always need you." She bent her arms and rested her forehead over his heart, listening to it beat with a 'doku-doku' like sound. " and if you think about it, all this 'shard detector' can do is shoot an arrow and do a decent handspring. She still needs you." Kagome smiled gently as she felt sturdy hands wrap around her back, as if to say that he would never leave her.

"Keh, you are just a shard detector," Inuyasha said gently, placing his chin between her ears, " but you're my shard detector."

"and if you two are done with the mush moment, we have training to do!" Jin called, hand on his hip, trying not to sound immature. Kagome buried her head further into Inuyasha's haori and emitted a sound somewhere between a grown and a groan.

"and how did you convince me to train with them again?"

Inuyasha chuckled and pulled back to look at Kagome, "I embarrassed you into submission, remember?" Kagome glared at him and re-adjusted her haori 'just in case' before going back out to the others.

Kagome's expression change from glare to grin once she hit sunlight, "so… what're we doing first?" she didn't know what hit her.

"sparring." She saw stars and a bare chest with white fabric creating an 'X' across it. she shook her head and swept her foot where Jin was standing previously.

"haha nice try lass! But I'm up here!" came his mirthful laugh from about 20 feet up in the air, Jin was 'sitting' cross-legged looking down at his opponent. He didn't like fighting girls much, so he was going easy until he found out where her level was.

"that's not fair! I can't reach you up there!" Kagome called up, putting her hands on her hips playfully.

"ahh, a lass that doesn't mind playing on the field!" with that, Jin took a head-dive that would knock out a normal human. Kagome dived to the side at the last minute, looking behind her to see a crater where she was sitting.

Standing up, Kagome looked back at Inuyasha to see him struggling with his instincts to defend her from 'danger,' "it's okay Inuyasha, this is what you wanted me to do in the first place!" she gave him a reassuring smile that seemed to lessen his internal struggle slightly. A second punch came in towards her side and she ducked down to punch him in the solar plexus, knocking his wind out.

"and that one I learned from one of my childhood friends." She stood up straight while Jin caught his breath.

"not bad girl, if he was human. Now, do you know any non-physical attacks?" Reichou called from the sidelines, standing on either side of Inuyasha 'just in case.' Kagome nodded and closed her eyes, focusing on Jin's aura instead of using her eyes so she could concentrate on putting her energy into her claws.

Inuyasha saw the tell-tale yellow glow on Kagome's claws and decided to get into a position that made it so he could easily dodge. Kagome lifted her hand towards a floating Jin and let go. The five 'arrows' streaked through the air… completely missing the almost stationary red-headed target.

"oookay… first lesson is target practice." Raizen grimaced, earning nods from all the boys.

Kagome bowed her head, "yeah, I usually can't hit a still target, but I almost always hit the moving ones." Inuyasha verified this by nodding his head slowly. "and this attack is relatively new to me also!" Inuyasha nodded again slowly, seemingly in pain.

Jin floated down and put a hand on her shoulder in a seemingly reassuring gesture. Kagome tensed and flipped him hard over her back without realizing who it was, all the while black electricity coming out from her shoulder. Kagome looked down at a semi-flattened Jin, trying to recover from the full-on spine-hitting-hard-rock move.

"sorry Jin-san, but I have a thing about that shoulder and guys touching it. the last time someone touched my shoulder, I got really mad and I ended up scorching both of his legs as torture. I really don't want to do that to you." Kagome touched her 'birth mark' lightly and bowed, hiding a wince of pain.

Inuyasha stepped forward, carefully putting his hand on her other shoulder, "are you okay?" he whispered, careful not to let the others hear.

Kagome nodded and gave a re-assuring smile, "it's just the mark, that's all. but it didn't hurt this much last time though." Kagome gave one last rub and straightened up.

"if you're sure. I don't want you hurt, Kagome." Inuyasha breathed over Kagome's ear to reassure her. A shiver ran down her spine as she flicked her ear away from the tantalizing breath.

" if you two are done, we should see how the girl is with weapons," Raizen offered, not wanting his son to get seriously hurt by a girl, pointing to a relatively large storage room attached to a dojo.

Kagome looked toward Inuyasha and back to the storage room, wondering about how much should she really show him about herself. She took a step to the room before looking back, " Inuyasha, there are more things that I know about you and your past than you know about me and my past." Kagome sounded eerily like Sesshomaru then and Inuyasha shivered.

"right. You don't have much of a lock on your secrets at all, Kagome," Inuyasha offered, stepping up to walk beside her.

"that's because it's only on a you-found-out-on-your-own knowledge. Mom's just a blabbermouth," they reached the storage and Kagome yanked the door open and stopped.

"Ahh? Kagome?" Inuyasha waved his hand in front of her stunned face and when that didn't work, turned to look at what had grabbed her attention. In the room were dozens of weapons lining the entire room. Kagome closed her eyes and hummed in pleasure. She hadn't seen close to this many arsenals since she watched that war movie in history class.

Kagome to a step into the room hesitantly, as if it was holy ground, and inspected each weapon carefully. There was everything to Katanas to Tessens to Sais. Once Kagome went around once (which took a good half hour of her being deaf to the complaining hanyou boy) with comments from either Raizen or Reichou, she finally picked a baton with spear-points on both ends.

"'bout time wench!" Inuyasha huffed, going outside and jumping into the nearest tree that would hold his weight. Kagome rolled her eyes and took further inspection of the weapon. She eyed it for straightness and aerodynamics. Taking a swipe, she heard the note that it produced and nodded approval.

"whoever made this, knew how to do it. this is the only weapon that I was allowed to handle when I was younger, and only because mom thought it was a toy. Right now this is the only thing that I'm comfortable around… except for the bow and that's only been in the past year." Kagome said, not exactly to anyone except for herself.

"then we'll have to find a better weapon for you. Bow is only long-range and a baton doesn't do very much damage usually," Reichou commented, taking on the complete 'sensei' role. Kagome gave a milliseconds worth of a warning-smile before spinning the baton and bringing it within hairs of going through the neck.

"usually. But it only depends if you know how to use it or not. My cousin and I… never mind." Kagome looked away and let the baton swing at her side from her hand. She had almost given away what she had promised to keep a secret no matter what because of the time differences.

Reichou shook off her hesitation and thumped her back, "now lets see how you with that stick," he took five paces away from her, "you have to try to hit me and draw at least some blood, and I'm going to try to avoid it. go!"

With that, Kagome held the stick high to fake a down cut, while he blocked that, she twisted it around her wrist to come up to a undefended chest. She could have easily dived it into his heart, but just left a bloody-red 'X' instead. It wasn't deep, but it was angled just right to have it bleeding profusely.

Reichou looked down at his ripped and bloody shirt and grinned, so she knew how to cut at least. He would have to do better with keeping his guard up with this weapon.

Kagome then came in to cut his left side and he blocked, she dove it in the right instead with another 'X'. by now, Reichou had learned her pattern of faking. She went for one side, and then actually did the opposite side instead. Very sneaky… but not anymore.

Kagome tried another fake to the top part of his body, and Reichou instead covered his lower half, trying to fake the fake. Kagome smiled and quickly drew a comma across his collarbone where she was aiming the first time.

"fair time?" Kagome asked, using a nearly-invisible hook to tie the baton to her waist-sash. All three marks had taken less than ten seconds and Reichou's shirt was no more either.

"fair." He agreed, looking down to the scraps of shirt hanging out from his waste. Kagome stepped up close to inspect her handy-work that didn't look like it would stop bleeding soon.

"I did a fair job on the cuts, some of my acquaintances would be proud." Kagome resisted the urge to say 'father' because that would be just awkward, "let me heal those up for you before it gets your pants dirty also." Reichou nodded and touched the 'X' over his heart gently, not wanting to provoke the healing already taking place.

Kagome brushed her hand over the wound to set the skin in place. Then she concentrated on separating her healing powers from her purifying powers so she wouldn't kill her future father. She used just enough to seal the skin back onto the muscle to allow it to heal naturally. She did the same to the comma on the collarbone and the other 'X' on his side (though she made sure that the comma would scar visibly permanently).

Inuyasha hopped down from the tree and inspected the still-bloody area. "hey, why didn't you ever do that to me?" he yelled at Kagome.

"because if I did, it would just be all in vain. You get injured so often that it would be a waste of my energy… and besides, I'd never get you to sit still otherwise!" Kagome waved off Inuyasha's shocked expression and laughed. "and if you're wondering, Kaede taught me a while ago."

"you know that the mark on his collarbone won't heal correctly, don't you?" Inuyasha whispered.

Kagome nodded, "yeah, that is where he was hiding a jewel shard. He had it hidden pretty well except for this morning during breakfast. Don't worry, he didn't notice." She whispered back, gaining a good grip on her baton for another round with her 'sensei' since she could see him getting ready out of the corner of her eye.

"trying to get me off guard?" Kagome asked, holding the baton to parry his katana away from Inuyasha's arm. The vibration from the hit caused Kagome's hand to cramp in protest. "Oww!" she whimpered, shaking her normal carrying hand and defending with her left. He had pulled his katana from a hidden saya(scabbard) under his pants tied to his leg.

Kagome jumped away from Inuyasha to test whether Reichou was still testing her, or attacking Inuyasha. Reichou shoved Inuyasha out of the way and went to Kagome, appearing to fully intend to cut her down. Kagome gripped either end of the baton and used the center to block the swings away from her body.

Kagome blocked nearly every swing, except for a shallow cut on her forearm to her elbow. Reichou switched his blade to face upward and swung up, effectively disarming her and knocking her down. Kagome looked up at the point of the katana, hoping that it would stop in time to not cut her jugular vein.

Laughing was heard from up above as she felt the cold, dull side of the katana slide across her throat. Kagome looked up when she felt the blade recede and heard it being carefully inserted back into its saya. "not bad for your first time, girl, but you still need a better weapon than a sharp stick." Reichou offered his hand and hoisted Kagome up.

* * *

well, I said to myself that I'd get this out on Sunday, and I did. Sorry if Kags seems a little ooc in this chapter, but you will find out eventually why she's like this. It has something to do with her cousin – wink, wink –

talk to y'all later! Dark (btw, I lost the competition and didn't even make the final cut. Wearing a formal for nothing! Wahh!)


	23. pain

Well, I guess that I have to write this next chapter, I've postponed it enough. I thank all of my loyal (and non-loyal) fans for reviewing. I'm thinking of eventually doing a fruits basket fic, just warning you. Dark

Disclaimer: ya know the drill

* * *

Chapter 23: pain

Last time: Laughing was heard from up above as she felt the cold, dull side of the katana slide across her throat. Kagome looked up when she felt the blade recede and heard it being carefully inserted back into its saya. "not bad for your first time, girl, but you still need a better weapon than a sharp stick." Reichou offered his hand and hoisted Kagome up.

This time: it had been nearly a week of the training, Kagome and Inuyasha had gotten some 'bonding time,' and the guys had nearly given up on hitting on Kagome. Nearly.

"ahhh!" currently, Kagome was learning to fly. The hard way. She was flying – falling - across the grounds after a particularly hard hit from Raizen. Inuyasha cringed when he heard a sickening thump and saw a dust cloud rise from the other side of the wall. That would call for more 'bonding time' later while Inuyasha bandaged her wounds.

Inuyasha was also learning several new things, which included 'how to bandage a female without getting slapped in the process' and 'do not interfere with a pissed fighting bitch.' Inuyasha had long given up on trying to rescue Kagome from her 'trainers' and settled for carving the tree that he resided in into toothpicks.

"oh, that was a nasty landing, wasn't it inu?" Jin asked from where he floated just off the branch to his right. "I'll have to teach her how to land from one of those hits!" he continued without even noticing that Inuyasha didn't even hear a single rambling of the red-head. The dust cleared and it showed the staggering figure of a girl, "she's up already! Now _that's_ a recovery!"

The girl shook her head and jumped over the wall to her waiting opponents. She had graduated from one-on-one on the second day and now was fighting both of the best hand-to-hand combat demons in the area. Kagome pulled out a Tessen (I love this weapon, it's a fan that has razor-blades for the 'ribs.' Its like Kagura's fan except black) that she had found behind some other weapons in the storage room and opened it, exposing the tips for a wider strike area.

"if you're just going to stand there looking pretty, go home!" Raizen taunted, knowing what ticked off the young hanyou by now. Black energy crackled around the fan in displeasure, clearly showing her lack of control for this type of energy. "come on, you couldn't hit the broad side of an oni!" That did it, she released black streams of energy that arced and dived under the ground, turning it black in turn, traveling until it exploded under the two idiots with a cry of kira-korosu (lit. soul killer).

After the initial shine of black, it turned blue and then a lovely pink of miko energy to make sure they hurt. All that was left of the two were two crispy piles of unconscious demons. Kagome jumped off the wall and joined the other spectators to inspect her work. Yes, they were still breathing, I guess that was a good thing. Kagome bent down between the two piles, "I don't take to nicely to insults boys, just to let you know." Damn, Kagome was getting cocky and she knew it, the two 'mice' (lol. are you men or mice?) nodded and the people who could move stepped back when Kagome straightened up.

"ah! It feels good to do some stress-relief every once in a while, doesn't it Inuyasha?" Kagome grinned, turning and walked back to the weapons shed fully intent of having her last day at her 'father's' castle a peaceful one. The silver and gold streaks faded away out of her hair with every step she took. (remember, her uncle (Raizen) has gold hair (and so does her cousin in demon form), and whenever she gets extremely stressed, she gets silver streaks from her mom's side of the family. So in result, since she was stressed when fighting, she had gold and silver streaks.)

Inuyasha was the first to recover from the shock and leaped over to Kagome in the room. "do you know what you just did?"

"the kokoro korosu?" Kagome asked back, placing her 'beloved fan' back on display by the pikes that looked a lot like the thunder brothers' ones.

"yes, when did you learn to do it?"

"just now," Inuyasha did an anime fall, "I don't really know what happened in the first place."

"what do you mean you didn't know!" Inuyasha was in Kagome's face, oblivious to the fact that multicolored energy was crackling around them.

Kagome turned, looking at the weapons, fingering each one as if memorizing each detail: the kanji on the katana, the perfect point on the changing arrows, the tiny hooks on the end of the whip. Kagome finally turned around to face Inuyasha, trying to calm down her frazzled nerves before she did to him what she did to her 'father' and 'uncle'. "I was on the _edge_ and I was pissed, you to the math." The edge was what Kagome was pushing for the past week, learning to keep her inevitable feral side locked in.

Kagome turned back to the whip, she remembered when Reichou decided to introduce it to her, the hard way. Those little fishing hooks went into her arm when she brought it up to block, not knowing what being struck with a whip would be like. All the other strikes were blocked by her faithful baton… until the whip wrapped around the cold metal and flung it across the grounds. They left tears in her arm an inch long and it was nightfall before Inuyasha had the chance to bandage them.

Kagome rubbed her still-bandaged arm in the painful memory, hoping again that it wouldn't scar. Inuyasha came up behind her, seeing her rub the bandage along her left forearm, and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting gesture. Inuyasha whuffed a quiet calming sound and Kagome leaned back, "do you think I'll get to keep any of these Inuyasha?" he shook his head and followed her eyes to a certain Tessen.

"heh, probably not right now, but I can always get a certain senile old man to make you something." Inuyasha's reassurances had many meanings, including that he was worried about her going feral also. "tomorrow we'll have to head to my brother's castle to help set up for that damn ball." Inuyasha mentioned. One thing that had constantly worried Kagome when she had time to think was Shippou. ever since the beginning, either Inuyasha or herself had been watching the young kitsune. Its not like she didn't trust the humans, but she felt like he was _her_ responsibility.

"will we be going through the 'peace zone' by where the others are?" Inuyasha just knew that Kagome was going to bring that one up, just like every night that week.

"yes, and if you want to visit, we should probably leave tonight so you will have time with the pup before we leave," Kagome turned around in Inuyasha's arms and rested against his chiseled chest (yummy!), "I know you miss him."

Kagome nodded slightly and slumped against Inuyasha, seemingly in relief. If he wouldn't have been holding her already, she would have fallen to the ground. "Kagome?" he looked down worriedly, Inuyasha knew that she was tired, but not this much. His hand traveled down her arms to prop her back up, but felt something slick-sticky. He looked down and saw that her previously white bandage was now starting to take on a reddish coloring, contrasting her black haori sleeve. She had opened her wounds again.

Sighing, Inuyasha scooped up Kagome and walked back to the palace to repair her bandages, "what did I tell you earlier Kagome?"

"not to use my hurt arm while fighting," came the sleepy reply as she winced from her arm shifting.

"and…?"

"and to tell you if it started hurting too much. But…" Kagome's eyes were still screwed shut, but she was slowly regaining consciousness.

"no buts," Inuyasha bent down and nuzzled the top of her head, "I care for you too much and if you can't handle something, you should tell me."

"what about when you get hurt, you don't tell me!"

"feh, that's different, wench, I'm not a weakling…" Inuyasha drifted off, not adding the 'like you' for fear of his life. He knew what she could do, and to be honest, she was the most powerful one in the group.

Kagome's eyes shot open, "are you calling me a weakling?" She struggled out of his grasp and stood up straight. "I am not a weakling!" she teetered slightly, and caught herself with a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "and besides, if you would just tell me when _you_ were injured, I wouldn't have to fight you about it!"

Inuyasha side-stepped out of Kagome's reach and she fell into his arms, wincing. "lets fix your arm, and then we can fight about it," Inuyasha insisted, picking Kagome up again and continuing to walk to their room

"you know," Kagome hissed, "if you weren't carrying me, I would s-i-t you!"

Inuyasha gave a smirk, "then I should carry you more often." Kagome opted to smack him upside the head instead, forgetting that the arm that she used was her injured one and paying for it in pain. "how many times have I told you not to do that to yourself?"

"don't start that again, just walk."

* * *

On the way to their room, Kagome still managed to sit Inuyasha, effectively knocking her unconscious in the process. If Kagome would just heal herself in the first place, he wouldn't have to do this every time she got her blood pumping. But nooo, she kept on insisting that if she could heal herself, she would have done it in the first place! Inuyasha set Kagome down on the futon and sighed. The servants had taken to leaving all the necessary medical supplies in their room, but Elektra still followed for the more… private wounds.

Inuyasha gently slipped off Kagome's haori, leaving the chest binding/ bandages in place for Elektra to change after he went outside. "are there any new wounds Inuyasha-ooji?" the young girl asked, holding up the gauze for him to use.

"no, she just reopened the ones on her arm as far as I can tell," Inuyasha commented, unwrapping said arm. "she popped the stitching again, can I have a needle?" Inuyasha sighed and plucked out one of his hairs. (this is Inuyasha-world: his hair is clean and hygienic (and uber-strong))

while Elektra got out a needle, Inuyasha cleaned the other non-reopened gashes and picked out the broken thread/hair. "here you go. Do I need to hold down Kagome-hime again?" she asked, holding out the needle and looking down at the girl that she considered her friend. Inuyasha nodded, threading the needle and Elektra slipped in behind Kagome to hold her hand still.

As if sensing the closing in needle, Kagome started to whimper and tried to roll away. Elektra pinned her down and silently counted down with Inuyasha. '3…2…1!' the needle went into the skin and Kagome strained harder to get away from the offending object. Inuyasha bit his lip every time that she made that whimpering noise, soon causing it to become bloody.

Kagome smelled the blood and her eyes snapped open, immediately focusing in on the place that the coppery smell was coming from. She stopped struggling and lifted her uninjured hand up to wipe up the small trickle of blood seeping from his mouth in a moment lost in time. The only thing that would ruin that moment was…

"Ahem," Elektra cleared her throat, reminding them that they currently had an audience, "ah, should I leave now that Kagome-hime is awake?"

The moment shattered and Kagome let her hand fall back to the mattress in a defeated gesture. Inuyasha quickly finished the sewing, Kagome twitching sporadically, and cut the extra with his teeth. Inuyasha lifted Kagome to a sitting position and Elektra took the silent cue to split. Inuyasha quickly slid in to replace her and pulled Kagome back against his chest.

"better?" he asked, gesturing the arm that Kagome was re-wrapping tightly with the white bandages. Kagome paused a moment and looked closely at the few still-exposed stitches.

Kagome nodded impassivity and leaned her head over his heart. "yeah. And I would heal myself if I could, but I can't, so don't ask," she nipped the argument in the bud, not wanting to follow the script for the past week. Inuyasha mentally went through the so-called script mentally before shaking his head and spying her ears.

'revenge is sweet,' he smirked mentally, brushing his fingertips over the sensitive upper peaks. He was rewarded with a shiver and the offended ear moved in a different direction. He laughed slightly and repeated the gesture, this time the ear laying flatter against her head. It was the third time that Kagome turned her head, giving him a warning glare out of the corner of her eye. Inuyasha returned it with a 'what?' and repeated the whole thing with the left ear. By now both ears were pinned and Kagome was starting to have that mad/playful look that she got during the arguments in front of the others.

'two can play that game,' Kagome slid her hands up and behind Inuyasha's head, faking pulling Inuyasha down for an upside-down kiss. Instead she brushed the barest of touches over his ears – both at the same time – just so that his ears started to itch in annoyance. Inuyasha shook his head to get rid of the feeling and pushed Kagome forward onto her stomach.

"hey, what was that for!" Kagome asked, trying to get up, only to discover that she was pinned at the hips by a certain hanyou.

Inuyasha smirked, 'this is gonna be fun!' and started running his hands up and down her back, careful not to upset a bruise from a roundhouse right by the ribs. Kagome sighed, practically melting at his ministering touch. He started at she shoulder blades, finding a particularly large knot and working it out. Kagome moaned and buried her head in the quilt, trying to not fall asleep. "go ahead and take a nap, I'll tell you when we'll leave," Inuyasha whispered, seeing her slight pillow-related nesting.

"your evil," –yawn- "you know that, right?" Kagome closed her eyes, vaguely aware that if she fell asleep there was a good possibility that his hands wouldn't stay on her back…no, he wasn't Miroku. Inuyasha nodded as she fell asleep, his small mental hentai self leaping for joy. Not only did mini-Inuyasha have the chance when Kagome rode his back to enjoy her thighs, now she was asleep right in front of him.

'no! bad inu!' he mentally berated himself, he wouldn't take advantage while she was asleep and only work on her back instead. And there were plenty of knots to work out in the first place, he should have done this earlier.

* * *

Kagome woke up to someone shaking her shoulder, releasing momentarily every time that her energy cracked. "Mmm? What?" came her sleepy voice, rolling further under the covers to get away from the offending appendage.

"time to go, Kagome, you need to get your traveling clothes back on and we need to say goodbye to our 'hosts'," the last word came out as more of a sneer, but Kagome didn't notice. Instead, she threw her hand out on top of the covers for her outfit, not wanting to leave the warm cocoon of her blankets.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and took hold of the near end of said blankets. "3, 2, 1!" and he yanked them off, exposing a topless Kagome (she had the chest bandages on you hentai!) curling into a ball to keep warm. She peered up from under her arms and growled, causing her arms to goosebump.

"that's abuse! You are nice to me, and then you steal my blankets!" she refused to uncurl, even with Inuyasha yanking her up around her torso.

"I was nice! I let you sleep for the entire morning!" Kagome looked out the shoji in shock, seeing that the sun was not making it glow as it did in the morning.

Inuyasha gracefully (not!) let her drop back onto the futon, her normal green and orange haori covering her head when he dropped it there. Grumbling, Kagome pulled it on, tying it just so to accent her curves in spite. She didn't even notice that Inuyasha was still in the room when she pulled off her straight-legged torepan (training pants) and replaced them with her green hakama.

Needless to say, he got a full view of those lacy- black- wannabe underwear (thong). "what? You like what you see?" Kagome stood up and faced the wall to tie her pants on correctly, working in a little butt action to torture the poor boy. With her hakama tied, Kagome turned around and faced Inuyasha, who had yet to close his mouth. "catching flies are we?" he abruptly closed his mouth, "so, are we going to say 'later' to them or not? Since you want to leave all of a sudden."

Inuyasha huffed and turned toward the door, "that bastard of a brother of mine wanted us to come early to 'prepare' whatever that means." Kagome nodded and followed Inuyasha's nose to the crispy rulers' chambers to say goodbye.

When they got there, Kagome saw that they had recovered quite well for the few hours they had since Kagome went to bed. The two of them were bandaged, but they were sitting in their common room and drinking sake, laughing at something before they were interrupted by Inuyasha barging in. Kagome entered a second later, bowing politely at the door before kneeling down in front of them. "I'm here to thank you for allowing us to stay this past week and I hope to see you at the ball in two days," Kagome bowed slightly to the drunken brothers.

Reichou waved his hand loosely before replying, "your lucky for that. Usually people like you don't last too long. And just look at us!" he gestured to a partially blood-soaked bandage around his torso, "I think that you won't be kicking it anytime soon!"

Raizen laughed slightly at his brother's cause and continued, "if you made it with us, you can make it almost anywhere. You'll see us at the ball, don't worry my little hinotama (fireball)." He offered, using the same nickname that he found to irk Kagome.

The aforementioned rolled her eyes, "I'm glad you're not mad at me frying you guys, I was just a little… out of control… when I did that, sorry." And with that, Kagome stood up and left. Inuyasha nodded gruffly at the two and followed, telling by her actions that she was still tired, even though she covered it very well.

* * *

well, a bit short and slow to update, and I formally apologize for that. Tomorrow's my birthday, to this is my gift to you all. a while ago a reviewer (I can't remember who) asked for an illustration about how Kagome looks in her forms. I have a relatively good picture on my mediaminer account under dark inu fan (duh). I hope you'll like it, dark 


	24. coming and going

Disclaimer: yeah…

* * *

chapter 24: coming and going

Last time: The aforementioned rolled her eyes, "I'm glad you're not mad at me frying you guys, I was just a little… out of control… when I did that, sorry." And with that, Kagome stood up and left. Inuyasha nodded gruffly at the two and followed, telling by her actions that she was still tired, even though she covered it very well.

This time: "are you sure? You're not that heavy," Inuyasha was walking a half-step behind her. Kagome continued to walk, swaying slightly, to the front door. Inuyasha was trying, unsuccessfully, to convince her that she was still tired and would collapse soon if she didn't let him carry her.

Kagome shook her head, refusing to look weak as she exited the castle of her father (he still didn't believe her completely). The servants waved goodbye as they passed, "no again Inuyasha. bye Akina, I'll miss you! I don't want you to carry me because I can walk myself."

"then why are you slouching? If you won't let me carry you,"

"oh, Elektra, I'll miss you so much! Take care of you and your brother for me!" Kagome interrupted, barely even listening anymore.

"… I'll force you to let me carry you!" Inuyasha practically growled out. Kagome saw the front gates and suddenly, quickly, sprinted out of them, startling Inuyasha into giving chase. Kagome ran until she was out of sight of the palace, then collapsed over a tree root, falling asleep faster than gravity on her body.

A few seconds later, Inuyasha came across, more like tripped over, the prone body, and sprawled over it. Inuyasha pushed himself up with his hands on either side of Kagome's shoulders. "not tired my ass," he mumbled as he picked her up and difficulty positioned her on his back. Kagome only became slightly more conscious to hoist herself into a more comfortable position on his back. In all truth, she had the sleeping habits of her cousin (another hint for those who like puzzles) after he finished training.

Inuyasha did one final adjustment to where her hands were around his shoulders, and took off to check up on the pack and then to his brother's house, oh goody.

* * *

It was a good half an hour later when he made it to the others and the 'safe zone'. Kagome had partially slept the whole time and was within range of where the others where supposed to be. He wasn't worried and still sneaked to the opposite side of the lake than the cabin. Taking a tentative sniff, Inuyasha confirmed that no one was in the immediate area and by the cabin. A mischievous grin spread on his face and whispered 'stay' so she would gently lift into the air long enough for Inuyasha to shift her to his arms.

'now what did Kagome say? Oh, yeah: One for the money, Two for the show, Three to get ready, and Four to' "BONZAI!" and with that, gentle rocking went to another unnecessary flight.

Kagome woke up to Inuyasha's yell of bonzai and her flying to a previously known body of water, " AHHH! INUYASHAAA!"

splash .

"they're back" Miroku sighed.

"I'll miss the quiet," Sango replied, sipping some of her tea.

"Kagome!" Shippou left his drawing and ran outside to a drenched Kagome swimming to the close shore. She reached it and flopped onto her back still half in it. Kagome closed her eyes and took a couple deep breaths from her quick swimming lesson. (very hard to swim fully clothed) Shippou stopped by her head and started poking her to see if she was still alive.

"Souta tell mama that I'll get up in five more minutes," she grumbled, brushing Shippou's poking off tiredly. She cracked her eyes open and inspected her arm lightly. She would need a dry bandage.

Shippou saw the bandage and the light pink on it and got worried. "Kagome-okaa-san! What happened to your arm?" he asked in almost panic, jumping closer to inspect it and carefully avoiding all the pink spots.

Kagome sat up, resting her arm on her knees so the water wouldn't soak it any more. "weapon training. the whip didn't like me very much," she joked, winking at Shippou, "now, I need to get out of these wet clothes before I catch a cold or something." She peeled off her haori and cream undershirt, revealing a pastel blue with the words 'certified bitch' in English scrawl with a picture of a certificate under it. Inuyasha had asked several times what it said, but Kagome would just grin and say 'me.'

She stood up, letting Shippou jump onto he shoulder, and walked back to the cabin to see if she could find at least a towel. It would be better if she could find temporary clothes that were dry. Kagome walked into the hut and straight to her backpack, which seemed _mostly_ untouched while she was gone. "Hi Sango-chan, Miroku-kun, how have you been doing while we were gone?" she asked, not exactly paying attention to anything aside from digging in her pack and finding decent clothes.

"not bad, Kagome-chan, it was actually very quiet except for someone passing through every once in a while." Sango watched her friend and little sister pull out what Kagome had once called jeans that were black and toss them to the side with a sky-blue shirt. Kagome then dug out the first aid kit and sighed, pulling out the gauze bandaging.

Miroku was the one to notice it, the wet bandage on her arm stained a light blood tint. "my, Kagome-sama, what happened to your arm? Did you get injured while you were gone?" he asked in concern, leaning forward slightly to get a better look.

Kagome rubbed the bandaging lightly before she began to unwrap it to inspect it before putting new bandages on it. "I learned the hard way to think before blocking," she held her arm out to show the series of what looked like rips that were sewn back together on her forearm.

"Those look like hook tears, what happened?" Sango asked, taking a corner of a napkin that Kagome brought from her time to wipe off the small amount of blood that leaked from the wounds getting wet.

"Raizen, Reichou and Inuyasha decided that it would be a good idea for me to get familiar with the different weapons and hand-to-hand techniques that they had. This one came from a whip with barbs on the end, I tried to block it with the weapon that I was using, but it was ripped from my hands and the whip wrapped around my arm instead." Kagome let Sango finish pat-drying the wound before she wrapped it in the new, dry, bandages. It looked like she didn't pop any stitches this time.

Kagome then turned to the back wall and lifted her shirt a little before pausing, "umm… all hentais out!" she gave Miroku the evil eye over her shoulder, stopping any lines that he could have said (ex: my, lady Kagome, I wouldn't dare to consider you in such a way!), and he slinked out like a stricken puppy. Sango and Kagome then made eye contact, Kagome giving the nod and Sango sat down by the door in a silent agreement (Miroku: what, its like you girls don't trust me or something!).

A minute later, Kagome came out in her blue ¾ sleeve T-shirt and black tapered-leg jeans. The T-shirt had a picture of an 'angel kitten' with red eyes and horns that had 'purr-fect angel' in gold on top and 'or not' in dripping red on the back. (I want THAT SHIRT!) her wet clothes hung on her un-bandaged arm and she had a towel-turban on her head. Kagome smiled slightly at Miroku's facial expression and jumped on the thatched roof to spread her clothes to dry and to talk to Inuyasha.

Kagome finished spreading out her wet clothes on the roof and laid prostrate in the only bare spot and closed her eyes, "the sun feels good," she said in a sleepy manner, taking her hair down from the turban and spreading it out to dry above her.

"Are you a cat or a dog?" came Inuyasha's voice from above her while Shippou climbed up the side of the hut to join the others and to lie on Kagome's stomach.

She laughed lightly, "I could ask you the same thing, I see you up in trees more than the ground! And here I thought before I met you that dogs couldn't climb trees!"

"Ha-ha," Inuyasha said dryly, "look at yourself. I thought you were a dog-demon, but obviously you're not with how much you act like a cat."

"Hanyou. _Dog-hanyou_ thank you very much. Just remember that I do have living human family at home." She corrected, "and one other hanyou-like family member," she added under her breath.

"Yeah, hanyou. Nothing but weakness and put-downs and being by yourself," Inuyasha mumbled to himself, but Kagome caught it on the breeze.

"Your not alone Inuyasha, you have Shiori, Jinenji, and… and me. Don't forget that. You have the best of both worlds never forget that two halves make a whole. If you want to think of it, together we are a full inu-youkai and a full human, not two individual hanyou. We complete each other, remember that," Kagome whispered back, trying to soothe the male hanyou without moving to wake the kit on her stomach.

Inuyasha nodded silently, letting a comfortable silence envelope both of them. After a few minutes looking northward, Inuyasha spoke up, "as soon as your clothes are dry, we have to leave so we can get there on time. Judging on how dry they are already, we will be leaving in about half an hour." Kagome nodded silently and stood up slowly, cradling Shippou so he wasn't jostled too much. She jumped from the roof and walked inside.

Miroku looked up and grinned, "ah, lady Kagome, I thought that you didn't like us anymore, but I'm glad to see that I was wrong."

Kagome smiled back and sat down, "sorry, but I'm a little out of it. as soon as we get back from this 'youkai ball,' I'm definitely going to spend more time with you guys. I've just been busy lately, you know that, and if you remember, this is still new to me, being a hanyou and all. when I go back to my house after all this, I'm probably going to sleep for at least a day!" she grinned, trying to cover a yawn with her hand.

"I thought hanyous were supposed to have more endurance than humans, and here you are, yawning," Miroku joked around, earning a half-hearted glare in his general direction.

"A full week training nonstop, barely any sleep, and me still getting used to my powers," Kagome ticked off on her hand, "and you'd be grumpy also! The three, no four, of them took turns on me the entire time. While one would train me, the others would be relaxing and watching me humiliate myself. And I, at most, got maybe three hours of sleep a night! Man, that sounded like high school!" she cried exasperated, leaning back against the wall in a dramatic sigh.

Miroku looked at her with a raised eyebrow, he had learned what 'school' was, but not 'high school,' but most likely it was just a higher level or something. "four? Who was the fourth person training you?" Miroku asked what seemed like the more profitable question.

"Jin, he's a wind demon that is heir to Raizen's throne until a war-demon is born. It was him, Raizen, Reichou, and Inuyasha who decided to torture me for the week.

"It wasn't torture, it was training!" Inuyasha yelled from the roof, Kagome just shook her head and mouthed 'torture' while pretending to strangle herself. Miroku laughed softly and leaned against the opposite wall.

"I guess we'll be staying another couple of days here, right?" Sango spoke up from quietly chopping some carrots for the stew on her HiraiKotsu.

"No, you don't have to stay here if you don't want to. if you want, you can start heading toward Kaede's village and we can meet you there after the ball. By now you guys would probably like someone to talk to aside from each other. If the ball is going to be how long I think it's going to be, we might be at the village at about the same time if you guys walk," Kagome thought, drawing on an invisible map in front of her face. "and then there's the inevitable youkai attacks to count on, but that would be unlikely unless you guys have jewel shards, do you?"

Miroku shook his head, "lady Kagome, do not worry about us. We are able to take care of ourselves just fine. Remember, we were individuals before we were a group," he smiled gently and leaned forward to check on Sango's stew if it was ready or not.

"She's alpha-female, its her job to worry about her pack," Inuyasha said as he pushed aside the door mat and tossed a blushing Kagome her clothes. "a storm's coming in, so they'll have to finish drying in here over the fire," Inuyasha sat down in a corner by the door and glanced around to see what everyone was doing.

Kagome stood up and tried to hold Shippou and hang her clothes at the same time, but failed. Inuyasha sighed and took the kit, giving her both her hands free. He sat down and put the kit on his lap, letting Shippou borrow some of his body heat to stay warm. Despite that, Shippou's tail was still fluffed against the cold of the incoming storm.

"We're still going, right?" Kagome managed to mumble, her pinked cheeks still taking their effects.

"Yes, get that poncho-thing or whatever you call it to wear over your kimono. I don't need you getting sick as well as exhausted. We don't need you having to be bedridden after this." Inuyasha didn't make eye contact, but looked out a window to the looming clouds approaching from the south.

Kagome mumbled a small 'hai' and started re-packing her bag and searching for her fur-lined plastic poncho somewhere in the bottom. She 'aha'ed and held up the stylized camouflaged article. After retrieving Shippou from Inuyasha's lap and snuggling up to him instead, she leaned back and waited to the inevitable sense-dulling patter of rain. Sometimes she even asked herself if she was a cat or not when the weather turned stormy. She sometimes liked it, sometimes not, but most of the time taking it for an omen of some type.

Inuyasha's hand crept around her waist, pulling her closer and allowing Kagome to rest her head on his shoulder. "it seems like you two have become closer in your absence, care to elaborate?" Miroku smirked, causing Kagome to try to pull away and blush.

Inuyasha just held on tighter and ignored the impudent human, "what of it, monk?" his securing hand discretely petting Shippou's head, soothing the pup and also securing that Kagome wouldn't pull away anytime soon.

Miroku just shrugged and set out the bowls for the stew so they could eat it before the humidity decided to make it a crunchy soup. He saw the supposedly subtle movements, but a hawk's eyes were sharp. Sango reached up and touched one of Kagome's pant legs, "have some stew before you leave. By the time you finish, your clothes will be dry enough to wear," Sango assured, bowling some and handing it to the 'secret' couple.

"A-arigato, Sango," Kagome smiled, though she viewed the older girl as a sister, she never really felt completely comfortable around others, especially after what she went through with her step-father. True, she went out of her way to see the best in others, but she had some sort of reserve around the others. Shaking Shippou slightly to wake him up, Kagome smiled down at the kit and remembered how they met. True they were like mother and child now, but Shippou had inadvertently taught her a valuable lesson: never have your jewel shards out of immediate grabbing range. Otherwise said: don't put them in your backpack!

"Shippou-honey, lunch," she sang lightly, much like her own mother would when she was younger. He looked up bleary-eyed and yawned, showing off his baby fangs. "hey now, I'm supposed to be the tired one here! And you're," she tickled his belly so he rolled off her lap, "supposed to be the hyper and silly one." Shippou looked up smiling and gave a small salute that Kagome had taught him at some point on the journey and grabbed his small bowl to get filled by Sango.

"When are you leaving Kagome-okaa-san?" Shippou asked around a mouthful of carrot bits.

Kagome gave him a stern look, "chew, swallow, then speak Shippou," he looked sheepish and she waited for him to do so before speaking. "unfortunately, Inuyasha and I have to leave you again right after we're done eating. But, how about this: as soon as I get back from my time after we go to the ball, I'll spend an entire day with you!" she gestured grandly with her hands, ending with grabbing her bowl-full of stew.

"But can't I come with you please Kagome-okaa-san?" Shippou set his bowl down onto the floor and leaned forward to give her the puppy-eyes. Kagome gave a show of fruitlessly resisting 'the look,' including peeping from behind he hand and then reacting to an invisible punch when she saw 'it.'

But, this was a serious matter after all, so Kagome finally sighed and leaned into Shippou to look him in the eye, "I'm sorry Shippou, but I don't think Sesshomaru would be happy with bringing you with us. And from what I've heard, you'd be bored beyond belief. I'll probably be bored in fact!" she gave a wink and sat back up, taking a sip of her stew and meditated on a particularly big piece of celery.

"only a day playing with you is too short!" Shippou wailed, trying a new tactic.

"then how long would you like our play time, Shippou?" Kagome asked calmly while mentally checking off whine on her list of 'how to get you way with your parents' methods.

Shippou made a gesture of thinking before holding his arms out in a hug gesture, "this long! Eternity!"

At that, Kagome laughed softly and pushed his hands together a little, "how about a shorter time, because you don't want to be selfish, do you?" Shippou shook his head solemnly, "then how about a week, does that sound fair to you?"

"a month!" Shippou virtually bounced at the idea of a complete month just him and Kagome, doing whatever they wanted without the stupid dog threatening to pound his head all the time.

Kagome shook her head, "a week, Shippou, no longer. Remember, we still have shards to collect and we want to do that before anyone decides to go on a 'take over the world' spree with them, okay?" Kagome tapped him on his nose and grinned as he giggled.

Inuyasha grabbed his bowl and downed it in one gulp, regardless of Kagome reminding him on table manners every time he sat down to eat. Kagome just settled for a sigh and rolling her eyes. He was hopeless! "come on cat," he drew out the word as long as he could, "we have to go soon before _he_ sends that little imp after us… ouch!" Kagome had set down her chopsticks and had dug two of her fingers in his thigh and pinched hard, just enough to leave a nasty bruise and not break the skin.

"that's" pinch, "not" twist, "funny!" she hissed, sealing the 'wound' with a little prick in the center like a bulls eye. But otherwise she finished her stew quickly, disliking that imp just as much as Inuyasha.

Kagome stood up, acquiring an extra growth around her knee on the way, "I don't want you to go!" Shippou's eyes were acting like faucets, "why can't you just stay here with me! Wah!" Inuyasha rolled his eyes and grabbed Shippou's tail, prying him off Kagome so she could change back into her traveling clothes.

He brought the sobbing kit up to eye level and stared at him until Shippou looked back, then giving him an almost invisible smile of reassurance, set him on the floor. "we're going and there's nothing you can do about it," he posed, back to his gruff tone, "but how about you finish that drawing that you started earlier to pass the time." Shippou looked up and hiccuped, his crying down to a drizzle.

"um, guys, you need to leave so I can get dressed, okay," Kagome spoke up, her cheeks matching Inuyasha's haori. After a moment's hesitation, Inuyasha grabbed the back of Miroku's robes and dragged him out to the covered porch so Kagome could have some privacy. Shippou just turned around since he was 'too young' to be a pervert and Kagome turned to the back wall anyway 'just in case.'

* * *

The storm soon hit with a vengeance after they left, and Inuyasha looked like a drowned rat. Kagome slightly less so because she had the poncho on and was being carried. You'd think that running would keep you drier, but that's WRONG!

Without too much trouble (not counting a bluish oni after the shards that was quickly disposed of by a short-fused Kagome), they soon reached the western castle just to wait in the antechamber for a good half an hour for someone to acknowledge their presence. Jaken of all demons was the one to show up and tell them where they were to stay. Which just happened to be Inuyasha's old room (so overused).

"dinner will be at sunset, and don't get lost!" the toad squawked, leaving in a huff to find his master, or to avoid the ever-hyper Rin that was supposed to stay in her room until the ball, but never listened.

"this way Kagome, I guess that we'll have to fend for ourselves until dinner," Inuyasha slumped, partially ignoring the gawking girl that was following behind closely so she wouldn't get lost.

"this, place, is, so, huge!" she looked up at the twenty foot ceiling that was painted like the twilight sky, it swirled in pinks and blues more beautiful than she could ever imagine.

Inuyasha couldn't help but smile slightly, you'd think that she'd never seen a high ceiling before. He stopped at the end of one hallway to open the shoji screen, but was nearly knocked over by a distracted Kagome. Inuyasha grabbed her shoulders to bring her back to earth and opened the door…

* * *

Okay, here's my pitiful and long-winded excuse for not updating: real life.

And one more thing, death threats don't make me update faster, dark. (and if you have any ideas or people's names (and short bios) for the ball, tell me in your review!)


	25. rin

New story out and I want you all to give your opinions, even if you don't like fruits basket! Yeah, inu no mine, but the rest of the world is!

_FanFiction Writer's Assistance Program (FFWAP) is a system designed to aid aspiring writers. FFWAP provides quality, unbiased reviews that give a well-rounded critique of an author's story. It is not only designed to help beginner writers, but is also a way for more experienced writers to receive a detailed review outlining areas in their writing that may need improvement or fine-tuning. If you would like to have your story reviewed by FFWAP, or would like to become a Reviewer, please see Silent Sky's bio page for more information. ( http:(double backslash)www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/u/660585/ )

* * *

_

Chapter 25: Rin

Last time: Inuyasha couldn't help but smile slightly, you'd think that she'd never seen a high ceiling before. He stopped at the end of one hallway to open the shoji screen, but was nearly knocked over by a distracted Kagome. Inuyasha grabbed her shoulders to bring her back to earth and opened the door…

This time: to a marvelous room that could have easily held the Higurashi house with room. Kagome walked in, in a stupor and spun around with her arms held out wide, giggling. The room was done in mostly reds and blacks, definitely Inuyasha's. Kagome stopped after a few minutes of careless blissful spinning and looked Inuyasha in the eye, "there's only one bed, where are you going to sleep?"

The serious look only lasted a moment before she laughed at her own seriousness and flopped down backward onto the red spread, resulting in a cloud of dust to rise and cut off her vision. "when Jaken said that this room was untouched, they weren't kidding," Inuyasha grumbled with his eyes watering, crossing the room to the closed red printed curtains and opened them to let some light in.

In the brighter light, the couple could easily see the thick layer of dust that had accumulated over the years, graying the entire room. Kagome carefully sat up from the bed, trying in vain not to kick up more dust, and looked around more carefully. There were footprints showing where Inuyasha and herself had walked, as well as a third, smaller, set that seemed almost everywhere. The smaller prints seemed mostly focused in one area of the room though, and that part of the room had a few toys on shelves and dust-free spaces where there should have been others.

"yeah, this was my room for a while," Inuyasha answered the unspoken question, "after mom died, Sesshomaru took me in until I could fend for myself. He found me fatally injured by some lower youkai once, and he took me in to protect his status. 'no prince of the western lands is going to be killed by any simple youkai' was his reason, the bastard," Inuyasha ground out, the dust in the air hiding the arrival of 'the bastard.'

"so glad that you are grateful for me taking you in. and you left on your own, little brother," Sesshomaru announced coldly from the door of the room, not wanting to step into the filthy room. His eyes scanned the room until they rested on the being on the bed, "miko," he spoke, stepping into the room and closer to the girl, 'my boots!' "the rumors are true I see," he brought his hand up to tilt her chin to look him in the eye. After a startled moment of looking into his molten eyes, she looked off to the side. 'modest, I see, good' he thought, "I will speak with you after dinner. I will send Jaken to get you." With that he turned and left.

It took a full minute, maybe more, for Kagome to snap out of her shock of _the_ lord Sesshomaru touching her. "hai," she whispered to herself quietly before standing up from the bed (leaving a nice heart-shaped butt print) and sighing, she never liked to clean. "I guess if this is where we're going to be staying, we have to clean up, ne? do those windows open?" she asked, ripping up the comforter and walking to the now-open window (for not being opened in over 100 years, it only took half of a sailor's vocabulary). She shook it out and hung it on the balcony's rails to air.

Inuyasha decided to attempt to dust the shelves, which revealed a pissed spider and turned his bright red outfit a dull gray. This resulted in some giggles that emitted from the other side of the door and four ears turning to the sound. They hadn't smelled anyone coming over the dust, but there she was, half hiding behind the shoji screen. Kagome smiled gently and walked over to the child, "hello, I've seen you before following Sesshomaru, what's your name?"

The girl blushed and hid behind the screen more, "Rin's name is Rin, pretty lady." Kagome smiled gently and shrugged off her third-person referral, opting to hold out her hand to the girl instead.

"do you want to help us Rin? This seems like a lot of work for just two people, don't you think?" Rin nodded and walked in the room shyly. Kagome watched her footprints in the dust and compared them to the ones leading to the toys. They matched perfectly. Kagome and Inuyasha exchanged glances and Kagome decided to speak up, "Rin, have you been in here before?"

The girl nodded and found a broom to sweep the floor, incidentally starting over by the toys to 'cover her tracks.' "yes, Rin found all those pretty toys and they were all lonely, so Rin decided to play with them!" Rin smiled upward, showing a missing tooth.

"that's okay, Rin, I just wanted to know where they were, that's all. now lets get this cleaned up so Inuyasha and I don't have to sleep in dust!" Kagome winked and Rin giggled, sweeping as hard as she could.

* * *

It was nearing sunset before anyone came and bothered them. "you two are late for… Rin there you are! You are in trouble young lady!" Jaken came in, squawking in annoyance.

Rin rolled her eyes and held up the broom, which looked like it was dropped into a vat of gray cotton candy from all of the dust, "I've been here all day, master Jaken, helping lady Kagome and master Inuyasha clean their room. You sure gave them a dirty room, that was rude!"

Jaken puffed up, "you were supposed to be in your room Rin! Now come with me for your evening meal. Why lord Sesshomaru would bother with a human like you is beyond my understanding, he should have left you for the wolves!" he muttered under his breath, grabbing for Rin's arm to drag her back to her room.

"bye! I'll see you later lady Kagome!" Rin waved, letting Jaken pull her along even though she could have easily gotten out of his grip.

"at least you're wearing something decent," Jaken stopped in the doorway, "now hurry up to dinner before lord Sesshomaru decides not to feed you!" he sneered toward Inuyasha. He just growled back and Kagome just stood there in mild shock at the prospect of not being fed, she was starved!

Inuyasha shook his head and walked out the door, leaving Kagome by herself with a dust rag still in her hand before jogging after the hanyou. She found him outside of a shoji door waiting for her to catch up, as soon as she did, he shook his head and opened the door for her and entered into a cozy dining area that was cushions and a low table with no real walking room around it. Sesshomaru was already there and against the opposite wall, sipping some tea while waiting for them to arrive.

He gestured for Kagome to sit on his left, while Inuyasha grudgingly took his right. It was a minute before the food was served, but Kagome didn't mind because she was studying the intricate designs on the table, Inuyasha grumping, and Sesshomaru waiting patiently. When the food did come, it was on one central plate and each of the three got a clean, empty one with a set of carved chopsticks.

"miko, serve me," Sesshomaru commanded simply, moving his chopsticks off his tile-like plate.

Kagome nodded gently and gently placed a porcelain bowl of rice in front of him. "its Kagome, please, not miko. I never really was a miko, just Kikyo's reincarnation." Sesshomaru nodded slightly and scornfully watched his brother serve himself and not even wait for Kagome and himself to dig in. He gave a silent signal and they both started eating in silence, Kagome not wanting to embarrass herself, and Sesshomaru not wanting to bother with his brother's atrocious manners.

* * *

After the meal was finished and the servants had taken the plates away, Sesshomaru turned to Kagome and looked at her through the steam of his green tea. "Kagome, I request that you come to my chambers in half of an hour so we can speak about pressing matters."

Kagome started to nod, but Inuyasha slammed his hands down on the table, nearly knocking over the tea pot. "no she won't, you bastard! I'm not going to take you like a castle concubine!"

"inuya-"

"that's enough! Do not insult me in my own home, hanyou. I raised you and I can just as easily cut you down. Besides, why would this Sesshomaru take a hanyou to my chambers if not only for business?" Kagome didn't know whether to be mad or embarrassed at the lord's choice of words. She just decided the safe route:

"umm… lord Sesshomaru, I will go see you, but may I please go back to the room until then?" he nodded and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"I will send Rin to collect you when I feel like it," with that, Kagome bowed and left the room, following her scent (confusing in a palace full of servants, err, demons) back to the room to have some thinking time before meeting her fate.

She laid down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling, which had been painted realistically like the nighttime sky. She picked out the different constellations, like the Big Dipper and Orion, and soon found herself in a light sleep. Inuyasha came in five minutes later muttering something profane about his brother and spotted Kagome on the bed, he shook his head and went out to see the real stars on the balcony.

It was surprising how little things had changed since he had lived here last when he was little. It was right after his mother had died and Inuyasha guessed that Sesshomaru felt pity for the pup, much like he was for Rin now, and took him in. In a lot of ways, he was a softie for children and their innocence, maybe because he was forced to grow up too fast when his father was alive to help in the wars. Inuyasha forced himself to grow up fast, but he actually didn't need to at the time. He was accepted for what, or maybe who, he was and was respected for being the brother of the young lord.

Inuyasha saw that that was one of the only reasons that he was respected after a few years of living with his brother: his prince-hood. But he wanted to be more than a prince, more than a spoiled child. He wanted to be in the world, because you can't really find out too much behind palace walls. So, he left, never to look back, and with a 'good riddance.'

* * *

Unbeknownst to Inuyasha, Sesshomaru was staring at the stars thinking along the same lines. He had wanted to train the whelp when he was old enough to hold a katana, but he left before then. Sesshomaru promised to himself that if he could not train his brother properly, he would at least check up on Inuyasha to see how he was doing. And sadly, he was disappointed in what he saw.

No matter how many battles he won with that behemoth of a fang, it was pure luck and not an ounce of skill. It shamed him really, almost to the point of dragging him back and taking the sward away until he learned to wield one properly. But no, daddy-dearest had to put a spell on it 'for Inuyasha's safety.' All that meant was that he couldn't train him properly even if he wanted.

What made this whole situation worse, was that he was coming to age and now had his own pack, no matter how rag-tag it may be. Then there was his future mate, Kagome was her name, to protect above anything else. If he couldn't get in good graces with her. Even an inkling of a chance would fade into oblivion for their chance to survive. Somehow, Sesshomaru had inherited a unique and secret power from his father, and it showed him two possibilities, neither of them good but one better than the other if only slightly.

Sighing silently, he turned away from the balcony's breeze and called out the door to the nearest servant. "summon Rin for me and tell her to get the miko." The lizard nodded and left, snorting in disgust once he was sure that he was out of his 'noble lord's' hearing. It was bad enough that he had brought a human into the castle, but then he had to turn her into even more of an abomination giving her a youkai life span. And now a human miko of all things! What next, freely inviting the hanyou prince back! The servant passed Inuyasha's room and lo-and-behold, there was the abomination on the deck! He slumped his posture and turned a lime-green in defeat. How come nobody told him these things?

He soon came to the abomination's room and opened the door, not even having the courtesy to knock. "You," he sneered, pointing at the girl, "lord Sesshomaru has summoned you to bring the miko to his quarters," with that he left, in desperate need of a bath for being near so many abominations at once.

Rin stood up smiling from her bed, happy for having such an important thing to do for her lord. She chirped a 'hai' to empty space before running to the door down the hall and knocking. A minute later, after some shifting of cloth and then some whispering. The door opened to reveal a peeved Inuyasha, "what do you want?"

Rin wasn't phased by the harsh behavior and just peeked her head past his waist and looked at the door. She then looked back at Inuyasha with a grin, "lord Fluffy wants to see pretty lady now! Can Rin wake her up?" Inuyasha hid a smirk at 'lord fluffy's' name and moved to the side. With a yay, Rin ran up to Kagome's side and jumped on the bed, and somewhat on Kagome's stomach.

"Souta, tell mom five more minutes. I don't wanna go to school!" Kagome mumbled, sleepily trying to brush Rin off and turning to her side away from the distraction.

Rin giggled a little before grabbing Kagome's shoulder, wanting to shake her awake. Inuyasha's eyes widened and he stepped forward before she was electrocuted, but surprisingly nothing happened as the girl shook Kagome awake. Kagome, after a good minute, rolled back and opened her eyes. And it was such a good dream too: Inuyasha was holding her and nothing else was happening. "yeah?" she asked blearily, not wanting to get up any time soon.

A smile nearly split Rin's face in half before she bounced on the bed a little. "lord Fluffy wants to see you now!" she grabbed Kagome's hand and started dragging her to the door before she was fully awake. Kagome nodded and covered up a yawn. Inuyasha gave her a worried glance and she smiled sweetly in return, as if to say that she could handle herself.

"come in," Sesshomaru called before Rin even had the chance to knock on the doorframe. Before opening the door to let them both in, Rin gave Kagome a winning smile. She smiled back, albeit a little nervously, and they both entered. He was sitting at a low table, going over a scroll that was open in front of him, and a pot of tea was sitting in the center with a pair of unused cups on either side. It was the first time that she had ever seen the lord without his armor, and it seemed to make him not so frightening. Without looking up, Sesshomaru dismissed Rin and summoned Kagome to come and sit opposite him.

"you intrigue me," he said as soon as the shoji closed, looking up from the scroll and rolling it up, "ever since that brother of mine brought you to our father's grave. I have been wondering what was so special about you. And to see you now, a year later, I would pass you as a normal hanyou for this time. Last time I checked, you were a human miko, care to explain?"

"well…"Kagome looked down to her lap and blushed, not sure what to say to her soon-to-be brother-in-law. "I don't really know what to tell you, so I'll just give you what I know myself: I know that I am only 16 and the in the future I will be the south-western lady, if what I know of the future doesn't change…" She continued to tell of how she discovered her past and what little she could tell of her future.

Sesshomaru was interested in the fact that in her time, girls were practically equal to men and went to school, and was saddened that there were not many youkai left where she lived. He had seen in the wars that his species was disappearing as the humans increased. It saddened him to admit to himself that hanyou were the only way for the dying breeds to continue, like the inu and bat. "if you wish, you can have some tea now," he gestured to the pot while taking his own cup from the tray and serving himself. Kagome gladly took some, but sniffed it lightly before setting it down in front of herself.

"its not poisoned," he gestured to his own full cup, "I may use poison, but it is not my strong suit." He smiled at the joke and looked at his talons. Kagome shifted uncomfortably in her sitting position, looking away and hoping that he was not warning her to an attack.

"yeah," Kagome laughed nervously, "I have a friend of mine that does specialize in poison and they taught me to easily detect it. and if you _were_ to use your poison, the tea cups wouldn't be here!" she held up hers and downed half of it, mentally knowing that a little sake had been mixed in for taste, but not enough for the alcohol to take affect.

Sesshomaru chuckled lightly and took a sip of his before setting it down. "now, let's get down to business. Since I have yet to get a mate, and Rin's too young, I have to ask your opinion for tomorrow." He moved the tea pot and took out the scroll that he was looking at earlier when she came in. "here are the details of the ball tomorrow night. What I was thinking is that you could watch Rin while the guests are arriving and I am watching over them. About half way through, I will send my brother to come retrieve you two. You will be introduced as Inuyasha's future mate, while Rin waits at the door. After you go down and start mingling, I will summon Rin and introduce her to the guests via mass. You will watch her the rest of the night when I am not able to. What do you think?" Sesshomaru looked up, his ice-like mask taken off in hope of her honest opinion.

Kagome read over the plans written on the scroll again and nodded, "I think that this will work, but do you think Inuyasha will co-operate with this?"

Sesshomaru gave a wink, "I think somehow you can make him behave. Now, tomorrow morning you will have to be fitted with a decent kimono, about four layers I think. And you look like you need some sleep, go ahead and you're dismissed, Kagome-_hime_." Kagome flinched at the 'hime' but stood up with Sesshomaru, revealing that the white boa thingy was, in fact, a tail and bowed to each other before she turned to the door.

"one more thing," Sesshomaru held up one of his fingers, "what is your title? Because it reflects on me if my brother were to bring some random riff-raff."

Kagome smirked, "lady Kagome of Tokyo." She laughed at her own pun, because no one would know where that was except for the inu brothers. "just say I'm foreign if they ask. Good night Sesshomaru-sama, or could I say San?" he rolled his eyes at Kagome's leaving, praying to the gods that she would stick with Sama in front of others.

* * *

Well, next time will be the 500 review special: the ball! I never thought that I would get this many people that love me so much, thank you, thank you, and thank you. I know that Sesshomaru is always portrayed as cold and 'the ice prince' but I asked myself, what was he like away from the public's eye? That was just my opinion. Later, dark

Ps. Mom restricted my computer usage to 2 hours a day, so until she forgets, I don't know if I will be able to keep up the 'update every other week' schedule, but I'll try.


	26. the ball aka 500 review special

Here it is… the thing you all have been waiting for… the big thing… the BALL! Thanks for all those who gave me attendants, dark (I don't even have a full $30 to my name, and I need to get a summer job to even buy my class ring, isn't it obvious by now that I only own my style of writing?)

* * *

Chapter 26: the ball 

Last time: Kagome smirked, "lady Kagome of Tokyo." She laughed at her own pun, because no one would know where that was except for the inu brothers. "just say I'm foreign if they ask. Good night Sesshomaru-sama, or could I say San?" he rolled his eyes at Kagome's leaving, praying to the gods that she would stick with Sama in front of others.

* * *

This time: a knock came from the door, rousing a response from the male hanyou by picking up his head, groaning, and glaring at such door. He then looked back down to where he was sleeping previously and realized that somehow in the previous night, he had been allowed onto the bed and into her arms. He grinned smugly, because he seemed to remember if a certain pair of humans tried this, one would be dead and the other fuming. 

Hearing another knock from the door, as well as a voice accompanied with it, came the second the male hanyou set his head back down into the crook of her neck. He carefully untangled their limbs, thankfully not waking her, and rolled off the bed. Snarling, he traveled to the shoji and threw it open.

"what do you want?" he growled, barely containing his voice so his partner could sleep.

"milord, it is time for your lady to get fitted for tonight," the servant explained, clearly used to the anti-mornings type of person. The hanyou growled and attempted to close the shoji, but was stopped by a hand.

"hey, is it that time already," the female hanyou stood behind the male, rubbing her eyes and her ears drooping, "but the sun's not even up yet!"

The servant gave an apologetic look and permitted herself to come into the young couple's room. "I'm sorry, lady Kagome, right?" the young hanyou girl nodded affirming the truth, "but lord Sesshomaru insisted on you waking early to watch lady Rin today. And you will soon find that there will not be enough hours in the days like this," the servant placed her hand on her cheek and sighed.

The girl identified as Kagome nodded her head vaguely and turned back to the bed so she could put on her haori over her sleeping T-shirt. Soon after she ran her fingers through her hair to get the knots out, Kagome followed the servant out the door and to wherever she was to get her new kimono. Soon, they were in the opposite end of the mansion (after walking like forever, but Kagome was used to it) and in the craftsmen's rooms. One near the end is where our two entered, joining the young human-turned-demon and a spider-demon at a loom that took up the majority of the room that was currently empty.

"Gumoko (gumo- spider, ko- girl/woman's permanent name suffix), the lady Kagome is here for her kimono." The servant asked, drawing the attention of the two. The younger opened her arms wide and leapt into Kagome's arms, much like Shippou had a habit of doing.

"Rin! Good morning! I guess I'll be watching you today, but will you be helping me with my kimono first?" Kagome asked, giving the girl another hug and setting her down before facing the half humanoid half spider demoness. "good morning to you also, I guess that you are the one that makes the clothes in this place, right?" she asked, looking around at some of the fancier kimonos lining the wall, including a haori that looked like Sesshomaru's.

"yes, ma'am, I am. It's such an honor to outfit you today," she bowed her upper body, her back-most legs coming off the ground for balance. As soon as Kagome bowed back, she rushed forward and started taking a piece of silk to measure several places around the startled girl. "oh, are you wearing much under your haori? Because I want the most accurate measurements that I can."

"well, yeah…"

"then you need to strip down to a yukata behind that screen," she cut Kagome off, using one of her arms and a leg to point to a silken screen in the corner with a T-hanger propping up a simple white yukata for Kagome to wear. After letting her mind catch up to the quick-talking demoness, Kagome nodded and went behind the screen to change, shedding all but her under necessities. After coming back out, Gumoko's eyes widened in relief, believing that the girl had no shape previously. She rushed the girl again, retaking measurements and recording them mentally for kimono size, as well as observing her coloring and what would look good on her.

After being poked, prodded and measured, the spider suddenly disappeared, only to reappear a few seconds later with many kimonos draped over her black body. The colors ranged from pinks to yellows to reds, as well as some purple. "here we go!" Gumoko held up the yellow yukata to Kagome's body, seeing that it complimented her skin tone, as well as the fact that her hair seemed to change color slightly in reflection to the colors surrounding her. "interesting, put this on lady Kagome." She mumbled, throwing it at the confused teenager. She scrambled to put it on and was barely done tying the sash before it was ripped off her body, revealing the white yukata again.

"no, that won't do. You need a bolder statement, but these are definitely the colors for you tonight." She rushed back to the room and grabbed a brighter set of kimonos to try on. She shoved Kagome into a purple one first and her hair highlighted that color. Gumoko nodded at the effects and helped her, definitely more gently, into a salmon colored one, then an orange, burnt yellow, and finally a dark twilight blue to complement her eyes on the top that was left open to the orange. The spider then untied all of them to reveal the white yukata and took of all five layers at once and put them on the kimono rack.

Kagome was in shock, without speaking a word, she had gotten her entire night's ensemble without her opinion. "ah…"

"don't worry, lady Kagome, I am going to embroider all these layers to suit you in no time. In fact, it'll be done before the guests arrive!" the spider gave a sweet smile and turned to the empty loom, silently dismissing her customers.

"but what about Rin?" Kagome asked, looking down at her temporary charge by the door.

"what about her? She has her kimono already from when she was given demon blood." Gumoko said without turning, still looking at the empty space in the middle of her loom as if it would magically start working on its own. "I'm sorry lady, but I can't start working until you leave. I don't want my secrets ruined," she said with a small, hidden smile. Kagome blushed slightly and bowed herself and Rin out without another word.

"what should we do now, Rin?" Kagome asked, looking down at her charge and noticing how different she looked from the last time she had seen the girl. Her ears were pointed slightly and she had silver streaks in her brown/black hair. She still had that side ponytail, but it was longer now and not a stubby bush like it had been when she was completely human.

The girl was holding onto Kagome's hand and was skipping down the hall, slightly pulling her sitter along. "I know what, pretty lady! We can go to the gardens! They're so beautiful and fluffy-sama puts so much hard work into them when he's here, and even lets Rin help sometimes!"

" 'and even lets me help sometimes,' Rin. You don't say your name when you're talking about yourself. Instead of me saying 'Kagome thinks you're cute,' I say 'I think you're cute, Rin' okay?" Kagome squeezed the girls hand slightly and she nodded.

"Ri- I think you're cute also, pretty lady!" she exclaimed, pulling Kagome along around a corner and nearly caused them to run over a servant that was carrying a pile of banners to be hung in the great hall as decoration.

"watch it you demon wannabe!" he spat, glaring at the little girl who he obviously disliked. Kagome puffed up and glared at the demon, who was a good two feet shorter than her, and kicked him, sending the banners and the demon into the wall ten meters away with a satisfying 'splat.'

Rin acted like a chibi-Kagome and stuck out her tongue before doing an about-face and continuing down the hallway with Kagome in tow. "hey Rin, have you had breakfast yet? Because I wasn't able to before being pulled to the outfitters," Kagome suggested, following the girl to a set of doors leading to the outside.

"don't worry, pre- Kagome-sama! Fluffy-sama has fruit trees in the garden that has fruit all the time!" Rin expressed this by throwing her hands wide before throwing the shoji doors wide to reveal the large gardens. Kagome was speechless as she took in all the beautiful colors and shapes, and even a small stream weaving through it with a series of small waterfalls separating the sections of the garden. While Kagome stood frozen on the porch, Rin whooped and ran into the gardens, set on making a bouquet for her foster father.

* * *

After a few minutes, Rin looked up from amidst the pink chrysanthemums and grinned, holding up a bundle that looked about strangled to death. "aren't they pretty! Fluffy-sama likes Rin's flowers!" Kagome couldn't help but laugh a little at the girl's antics, not even bothering to correct her grammar at the time. Coming out of her stupor, Kagome closed her slack jaw and stepped off the porch to join with picking flowers. After a while, Rin's head snapped up as if she heard something and grinned toward the second floor of the castle. Kagome follower her line of sight and spotted Sesshomaru looking down at them with hidden amusement in his eyes. 

"Rin, don't pick too many or they won't come back next year," he warned, keeping his voice uninvolved as usual. Rin nodded cheerfully and ran off to the next area of flowers, dragging Kagome along. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes when they turned away and walked back into his room. He would have slumped his posture also, but there were servants in his room and he would not show weakness to his inferiors. Looking at the waiting servant, he sighed internally and held his arm out in a 'what are you waiting for' gesture. The servant jumped and immediately rushed forward with the tailored kimono for him to wear that night that matched his daughters: silver with purple lining and belt. It fit snugly and he nodded approval before leaving to finish his other tasks before his guests started arriving, like overseeing the decorations that almost drowned out the grand meeting hall.

After a while, a servant ran up to Sesshomaru in a panic, nearly falling over as he tried to stop and bow at the same time. "Sess-Sesshomaru-sama!" the servant panted, having to be stopped from head-butting Sesshomaru by a hand on his shoulder, "the guests are arriving already!" he looked up to see his lord's ice-like face.

After a few seconds, which felt like years to the servant with his lord's poison talons so close to his neck, Sesshomaru gave a small nod, "entertain them in the front hall, I have to finish getting ready," and with that, both the servant and Sesshomaru parted the grand hall in separate directions. In the hallway, he pulled aside two servants and told them to find Kagome and Inuyasha and tell them to get ready. They nodded in unison and left, going separate directions also. This was going to be a pain if all of the guests arrived early.

The servant found Rin and Kagome still in the gardens, even though it was nearing mid-afternoon, each holding carefully arranged bouquets that Kagome was putting final touches in. the servant ran up to them and bowed, "ladies! The guests are starting to arrive, your kimono is in your room, I will help you get ready!" she said hurriedly, not even waiting to be acknowledged before taking Kagome's hand and dragging her across the gardens back to the castle and through a servant's shortcut hidden behind a tapestry directly to their rooms. Kagome managed to smile at Rin before the servant shooed her out of the room and in the direction of her own room to get ready.

* * *

It was true, the kimono was already in the room, placed there sometime after Kagome left, and standing on the 'T' by a dressing table. The servant snatched a free end to Kagome's white tie to her yukata and pulled it off, almost immediately replacing it with the many layers of the kimono at once. Unfortunately, Kagome was unable to see the new embroidery on the bottom that snaked up to her back before it was on her body and already being tied with the simple string that kept the under layers on underneath the obi. 

The obi was a long one, about five meters, and was a pale pink/purple. By the time the servant finished tying it in a complicated knot that resembled a lily, Kagome wanted to sit down because she had been standing so long. She felt like a Hina-doll the way she was being dressed up in all this elaborate clothing and silks. After getting a quick peek at what her obi looked like in some polished silver, the maid sat her down in front of it and quickly and elaborately did up her hair, gracefully hiding her ears to look like they were part of the hairstyle.

Inuyasha burst in when the maid was putting on Kagome's finishing touches (facial paint that had a silver crescent moon with the points up on her forehead) to show that she was the hostess of the castle for the night. He stopped suddenly, catching Kagome's features in his vision and the servant sent to look for him crashed into his back, pushing him into Kagome's arms. "Nantoiu (how beautiful), you're beautiful, Kagome," he said breathlessly, swinging her around. Kagome giggled at the comment before eyeing Inuyasha back, apparently he had also been busy all morning also. Instead of his usual red robes, he wore lightly embroidered purple robes, with the kanji for inu sewn on his chest in a shade darker purple. Inuyasha also had makeup on, outlining two jagged purple stripes, one on each cheek, and a jagged crescent moon on his forehead like his older brother.

After a moment, Inuyasha held out his hand, "my lady, may I accompany you to the front entrance to greet the early guests?" he asked, adding in a slight bow to complete the 'look.' Kagome was in shock by his revealed knowledge of manners, but after a few seconds took his hand gently and let him lead her out the door and down the hall, leaving the servants in the room. Sesshomaru was already there in his silver robes, waiting for them to come before having the door to the antechamber opened.

He looked the two head to foot and nodded in approval, seeming that they had the same general colors on. Sesshomaru took Kagome's free hand in the crook of his arm to her shock before nodding to his guard to open the door for their entrance.

"Kit. You are aware that you are early, are you not?" Sesshomaru asked, more like commanded, looking down at the giggly red kitsune female. She just giggled more and leaned over the low table to try to get closer to Sesshomaru.

"you're just as bishonen as usual, and so serious!" she tried to imitate the inu, but it turned into a squeak with the final 's'. Standing up, she skipped around the table, her red with gold embroidery kimono spinning around behind her, and latched on around his waist instead of where his arm used to be as of last year. "my dear Sesshy-kun, what happened to your arm!" she gasped, feeling the empty sleeve with only a stub of arm inside. "how could you be so reckless to ruin my favorite body!" she started fake sobbing, using his empty sleeve to wipe her eyes. Kagome and Inuyasha just ignored her, choosing to sit down on two sides of the table and serve themselves tea. If the first one would be this crazy, they didn't know what to do with themselves.

Just then, the one known as 'Kit' turned away from her 'love' and to the other two in the room. "hello inu-kun, and… who are you?" she asked with an obvious edge to her voice, not liking the new girl here immediately. She was a threat between her and Sesshy-kun!

"my name is Kagome," our heroine replied, nodding her head and then turning back to Inuyasha. she didn't know who this kitsune was, but Kagome didn't feel right with her around… like a bad vibe. Kagome just wanted her out and gone and didn't want to see her again as far as she could go.

Kit shrugged at her cold, or otherwise unresponsive, welcome and turned back to Sesshomaru, clinging to his still-intact arm. He gave a mental sigh, this was going to be a long night and hours before anyone else showed up.

* * *

Sesshomaru was right, it was hours, nearly sunset, before the next guest arrived. And it was Uwakionna of all people! (chapter 21, she was mentioned. Remember: clingy. Slut.) Inuyasha winced and dug his head into the crook of Kagome's neck to show that he was taken. This took Kagome by surprise at first, but then she leaned her head onto his and looked her over. From what she had heard, this was the one after Inuyasha. Her kimono top looked barely tied shut as it showed a good majority between her breasts before it was closed off by her obi as well as a good portion of her legs. The under-kimono, that was standard-looking with ankle-length sleeves and floor-length bottom, was a bright pink. Over that, but under the obi, was a shorter kimono that was stylishly cut without sleeves and went down to her thighs and was gracefully shut tight, blessing the other guests soon to arrive with at least _some_ modesty. This over layer was a twilight blue, and on top was finally the obi, which was surprisingly a pastel purple to contrast the other 'darker' colors. 

"Uwakionna, right?" Kagome asked, resisting the urge to growl at her potential enemy of affection.

The girl ignored Kagome and flung herself at Inuyasha, making herself comfortable in his lap before he could react. "hello Inuyasha-koi," she said in a husky voice, "miss me?" Kagome was torn between beating her to a bloody pulp, or sitting Inuyasha for letting her sit in his lap.

She chose the latter. "sit! How could you let that slut sit in your lap like that! Sit!" well, the table was no more, and the poor, unfortunate, innocent girl was drenched with scalding tea when she was thrown from Inuyasha's lap. "serves you right, he's _mine_!" Kagome said in a growl, territorial instincts welling up in her gut as her claws glowed as a physical threat for her to run.

Fortunately, she got the clue and left, but not before stealing a lip-lock from the stunned Inuyasha to spite the girl. Kagome was pissed, 'how dare she!' Kagome thought, picking up a tea-pot shard and throwing it at the wall, the china shattering into smaller pieces on contact.

Inuyasha looked up at his, and gave up a small grin. "see? Now you know why I fight Koga when he's around!" he crossed his arms and Kagome gained a confused look.

"no, not really… but _she_ was all over you!" Kagome leaned over to look eye-to-eye with Inuyasha, "and Koga's just a friend, nothing else. He has someone already and I don't love him like that!"

"I'm he…" Koga entered, Ayame behind him, and stopped. There was the fated couple in front of him, and talking about him of all things, he was touched.

"then how do you love him, if you don't love him 'like that'?" Inuyasha raised his voice slightly, not even noticing his new audience.

" 'like that' means I think of him on the same level as Miroku!" her hands were on her hips now, "as a brother-in-law type. Sango is like a sister to me, and when she and Miroku mate, he'll be my brother-in-law! Get it!" she faltered, seeing a shadow beside Inuyasha from the front door with a knee-length tail swishing back in forth. Her eyes raised slowly from Inuyasha to the man, demon, behind him and connected eyes.

"hello again, Kagome. I am sorry for not recognizing you and attacking you earlier. I was brash and fool-hearty," Kagome stood up completely and eyed the ookami-ooji (wolf prince). Both of his legs were bandages, but looked more like leggings with how easily they integrated into his usual outfit, and he had his usual grin on that usually disarmed Kagome with a glance until lately after 'the attack'. And promptly after seeing his smile, she fainted, not able to handle him _not_ mad at her.

"Kagome!" they yelled in unison (Inuyasha, Koga, and Ayame), rushing forward to make sure that she didn't land on any table splinter.

* * *

"ugh, what happened?" Kagome asked, turning her head away from the lamp-light and rubbing her head. She opened her eyes and realized that she was still in her kimono for the ball. 

"good, you're awake," Inuyasha commented, propping her up to drink from a bottle of water from her bag. "you fainted after seeing Koga and I guess, like at your father's house, you weren't able to breathe in your obi. The servant loosened it slightly, so you should be fine now. My brother said to have you come when you woke, so you could be introduced formally to the Tai-Youkai (ruling demons) here, and to bring Rin also." Kagome nodded and sat the rest of the way up with Inuyasha's help. "do you want to go?" Kagome nodded and they stood up, Inuyasha supporting her by the hand before she got her legs steady.

Kagome nodded after a few seconds and they walked to Rin's room, Inuyasha keeping a steady hand on her waste the entire time. When they showed up at the girl's door, she gave Kagome a quick worried glance before replacing it with her usual smile and bowing to the couple and following them to the grand hall, or more like leading them to the great hall during her excitement.

Kagome couldn't help but laugh at the girl's antics and how care-free she could seem, even though Kagome was once told about her past and how terrible it was. Rin reminded her of someone she once was, able to smile at everything without a care in the world. How she missed those days.

"Rin! Come back her please," Kagome called after the pre-teen and she listened, stopping right in front of Kagome to listen to what she had to say next. "Rin, Inuyasha and I are going to go inside, and then Sesshomaru is going to call you in. after you are dismissed, come find me in the crowd, okay?" she nodded and Inuyasha opened the door to find themselves behind a set of heavy maroon curtains.

Inuyasha gestured for Kagome to stay put before he sneaked out between the folds to behind Sesshomaru. After a few seconds, Kagome heard a whistle and almost immediately the guests quieted. Inuyasha saddled up beside Kagome and took her hand before Sesshomaru started talking. "thank you for coming to this turning of seasons annual ball, even though for some of us it was more required than optional," a small chuckle rose from the group while Kagome gave Inuyasha a look out of the corner of her eye. " as you are well aware, I have chosen a heir until I get a mate and male heir, and you will meet her in a few moments. But first, my brother is intended to be married sometime in the near future, and here he is to introduce her!"

The curtains opened to reveal the couple and Inuyasha led Kagome forward to the top of the stairs. "Inuyasha-ooji, second son of the white dog lord of the west, and Kagome-hime, lady of Tokyo!" came the squeaky voice of Jaken as he read from a scroll and then gave a weird face at 'Tokyo'. Inuyasha then let go of her arm and bowed to her, whispering for her to go down the stairs, Kagome hid a nod in her responding bow and gracefully, but slowly, alighted the stairs.

At the bottom, there was a particularly friendly, but 'fish out of water' type of girl that came up to her and bowed. She introduced herself as Marina and said that she was one of the last mermaid people in this side of the ocean, even though she was also a hanyou. She had bluish hair that was shoulder-length and sometime longer that seemed to be made out of water, but was light like a cloud or cotton candy. One of the most interesting things about her was that she had a pair of wings that were blue. They were bat-like in form and she wore them like a cape. Her skin was also blue, like she was extremely cold, but Marina assured her that it was her natural color. She didn't look so much a mermaid as what the English-speakers would call a gargoyle. But unlike a gargoyle's serpentine tail, it was horse-like and matched her bluish hair. In all of a few minutes, they had become fast friends.

"now," came Sesshomaru's voice again, "the light of my life, my heir, my Higurashi, Rin!" Sesshomaru gestured to the curtains behind him and a few seconds later, a head peeked out from behind them overcome with a sudden bout of shyness. Sesshomaru, surprisingly, knelt down and faced Rin, speaking gently, "come on out Rin, they won't hurt you. I just want you to say hello." Rin nodded slightly and came out from the curtains to just cling to his pant leg. If she couldn't stand out at the tops of the steps by herself, they might as well make it halfway.

"he…hello, Rin's name is Rin," she managed to say, waving her hand feebly before clinging more tightly to her lord father's leg. a low murmur of laughter crossed the crowd as they adored the child before Sesshomaru gave her a light push.

"go with Kagome now, I will be down in a minute or two Rin," he urged gently, pushing her again in the general direction of the stairs. Rin managed a small nod before releasing her death-grip on his hakama and traveling down the stairs to stand silently beside Kagome as she talked to a peculiar-looking blue demoness.

Sesshomaru came down the stairs after a few minutes of making announcements and took Rin to release Kagome to mingle. Kagome nodded and started walking around, still talking with Marina and forming a fast friendship, finding out that she, too, was a miko hanyou.

"have you ever thought of the future Marina?" Kagome asked, seemingly out of the blue. The girl turned suddenly to face her, her blue hair swirling like a current around her shoulders and over her wings.

"what? O…of course I have! What brings this up?" she asked, wondering where Kagome was getting with this.

"I think of the future all the time. I see different species dying out, and if there are survivors, they're most likely hanyou, us for example. What I'm thinking is to keep track of the hanyou out there in Japan at least. I've met so many so far, and I just wonder how many of 'us' there are in this age. Where I'm from, there aren't many youkai around, and if there are, they're in disguise to fit in with the humans." She turned to marina with a serious look, "we're the mediators, its up to us, all hanyou, to bridge the gap between human and youkai, do you want to help me?"

Marina nodded her head in enthusiasm, liking the prospect of others out there just like her, an outcast in both worlds, and to be able to find their own world together. "yeah, I'll help you! Who knows, it could be fun!" the girl bounced away, her wings flaring out behind her like a cape, to find her other companions to bring up the idea with them. Kagome sighed and smiled, the future, even though she was from it, she still didn't know what hers was. She turned and started walking back to the front steps to find Inuyasha, but soon ran into a hard chest unexpectedly, knocking them both to the floor.

"oomph, sorry sir," Kagome pushed herself off of the person that she landed on and kneeled down beside him. Underneath her was a picture of what a 'negative' Inuyasha would look like. He wore a blue haori and had black hair and canine ears. "here, take my hand," Kagome offered, sticking her hand out at the stranger, he opened his eyes and took her offer, grinning slightly in embarrassment.

"umm… sorry for that," he scratched the back of his head before sticking his opposite hand out to shake hers, "hey, my name's Volpe, what's yours?"

"ah, you must have not been there when Sesshomaru introduced me to everyone, I'm Kagome, Inuyasha's intended." He then deflated at that, but still shook her hand. He then left without a second word to go find someone else to flirt to. Kagome shrugged and continued on to find her mate-to-be in hopes of avoiding any wannabe sexual confrontations.

Sesshomaru intercepted Kagome at the foot of the stairs right before Inuyasha with a yawning Rin. "Kagome, it's Rin's bedtime, can you go take her?" Kagome nodded quietly, silently agreeing that it was time to take a break from the ball and all of the guests there because, surprisingly, she didn't like large crowds.

"come on Rin, I'll tell you a story when I tuck you in," Kagome looked down at the girl and smiled sweetly. How was Shippou doing, being away from Kagome for so long, they were never separated for longer than a week before from either Inuyasha or Kagome.

* * *

"come in Shippou, Kagome wouldn't like it if you got a cold," Sango called out the hut door, trying to persuade the kit to come indoors. Recently he had been staying outside on lookout as much as possible, many times his body giving up before his mind, hoping to be the first one to see his okaa-san and her smiling face before tucking him into bed right beside her in the sleeping bag. 

Shippou sighed, a tear running down his face, and turned inside in defeat. Sure he pretended to not miss them when one was missing, but that was only a façade to hide his fears about what happened to his father happening to either of his new parents. "coming!" came the weak cry, pushing aside the cloth door opening to sit beside the fire.

Both the taijiya and monk noticed the kit's sullen attitude that had developed over the past week or so. They missed not doing any shard hunts, or just being together like a family. Yes, a family, or a pack as the animalistic members of the group would call it. Kagome was the nucleus, being like a little sister to both of them, Inuyasha a brother, Shippou definitely a nephew, and Kilala was like a dear pet to them all. But what about each other, they had matched glances plenty, but what were they to each other?

* * *

"what story do you want Rin?" Kagome asked, lying down on top of the covers that Rin was under. The girl was in a simple white sleeping yukata and Kagome was, unfortunately, still in her kimono. 

"the tricky kitsune!" Rin cheered, hoping that Kagome knew that one.

Kagome smiled, hiding a small cringe inside, "which one? I know a couple of them because kitsune are tricksters themselves, they were born that way. How about I tell you one that momma told me when I was you age, alright?" Rin gave a small nod and grinned, knowing that this one was going to be a new one and not some old one that her human parents had told her when she was younger.

"well, there was once a spirit kitsune named Yoko Kurama, and he was called the greatest thief of all time. He was so good, that the people that he stole from didn't even know that anything was missing until he was long gone…

* * *

"Sesshomaru," Inuyasha called his brother, seeing that no one was currently 'paying respects' to the western lord. 

Sesshomaru turned his head in hearing his name and looked at Inuyasha, "what is it brother?" he asked with his cool attitude.

"I… you- you adopted Rin, right?" Inuyasha took a breath, hating the fact that he was actually asking his brother for advice.

"that is correct."

"Kagome… and I… want to adopt," he blushed a light dusting of pink, "it's the kitsune pup. He's already taken to calling her mother, so I was wondering…" Inuyasha couldn't stand looking at his brother, so his eyes started rapidly traveling everywhere.

"how to do the bonding ceremony, correct?" Sesshomaru was losing his patience with the young idiot, so he interrupted. "on your strongest nights, you form a blood-sake potion with the child and your blood…"

* * *

"… the chain snapped and the bat demon went back for the pendant, yelling for Yoko to continue on and that he would be fine. Not believing a word, Yoko followed, just in time to see him skewered with bamboo spears. In his grief for his long-time friend and partner, one of the human trackers found him and shot him with an arrow, supposedly killing him instantly. But you never know, kitsune are tricky that way, he could just be possessing a body right now, waiting… and waiting for his chance to get his own body again." Kagome finished, knowing that Rin had fallen asleep a long time ago. She smiled gently and kissed Rin's forehead before getting up and leaving, turning the lamp down low so it was a night-light instead of lighting up the entire room. 

Exiting the room, she spotted a young girl a little older than Rin that looked human enough. "umm… excuse me, but can you help me get back to the ball room? oh, and by the way, I'm Kagome," Kagome bowed to the girl and she bowed back.

"I'm ling, and its this way," she said, turning away and leading Kagome down the hall. This girl was obviously a guard, seeing how many weapons she was carrying (crossed katana on her back, and another one at her side), but was dressed up slightly for the night like the others at the castle. She had a light green Chinese-style button-front shirt with a high collar and no sleeves and underneath a pair of gi pants in a darker green with a skirt that was scrunched up to her knees on either side with a string that was an earthy shadow of green/brown. Her hair was also a matching brown and up in a high ponytail.

"here it is, lady Kagome, enjoy your stay," ling bowed herself out and left, continuing to patrol the halls like her fellow taijiya-like guards.

'yeah, I will' Kagome thought, turning back into the room to act like a socialite once again. There was just something creepy to her about people who didn't talk much.

Kagome entered once again to face just as many people as there were an hour ago, maybe a few less, but not enough to notice. Looking around, she spotted Inuyasha talking to his brother and smiled while descending to the brothers. Maybe they could get along for once…

"no way, I won't cut my mate for some stupid ritual even if that's how it's done!"

… then again, no. Kagome came in behind Inuyasha, not wanting to bother his 'discussion' with his brother that had something to do with her in the first place.

"then you should ask her about it yourself, dear brother," Sesshomaru was sitting down, sipping what she could guess was flavored sake, "she's right behind you." Inuyasha's face went pale when he thought about how long she could have been standing behind him.

Kagome grinned inwardly, she could see how pale Inuyasha had gone, even with his white hair, and decided to play with him. She stepped up to flush against his back and went on her toes before he could turn around. "what's this about cutting me, hmm?" she whispered, giving him a faked version of the 'you're in trouble but I'm holding it in' voice. She felt Inuyasha shiver and she smiled at Sesshomaru so he could know that she was playing along with what he had started.

"what about you getting hurt?" Inuyasha asked, trying to cover his guilt with a failed attempt at laughing. "you mean getting cut for the ceremony, right," he turned around to face the girl so that they were in each other's arms, "you know I would never hurt you on purpose, right?" he was practically groveling and she couldn't help but crack and start laughing.

" you should have seen the look on your face!" she continued, placing a small kiss on his cheek, "but what's this about me getting cut?" she asked again seriously.

"your acting skills leave much to be desired, miko hanyou," Sesshomaru cut in, looking at the girl that he would be soon related to.

This was unheard as Inuyasha started to sweat in nerves. "I was asking about certain ceremonies that I thought would come up eventually…" Inuyasha trailed off, not really wanting to say any more. "lets go outside, its getting stuffy with all these higher-ups tainting the air," and with that, led Kagome outside to the gardens that she had been in earlier to a spot that seemed particularly secluded.

"umm…"

"shh, Kagome, before you say anything," Inuyasha sat Kagome down on a stone bench and knelt down on one foot in front of her. He dug out a long and narrow box from the front of his haori and held it out to her, she took it and her head started spinning.

* * *

it was sixth grade, and the girls were all around Kagome's desk to talk before the teacher showed up for their next class. "Kagome-chan, how would you like to get proposed to?" Eri asked, the girl as curious as ever staring at her best friend. The other two were looking over at the boy named Hojo as she was asked this. 

Kagome blushed and looked over at Hojo also, they were practically his fan club he was so handsome. "I don't know. I guess it would be under the Goshinboku like mom and dad was. I would be wearing the most beautiful pink dress and he," all four giggled, knowing who he was, "would have just brought me back from dinner at a fancy restaurant and a romantic movie that he picked out just for me." The girls all sighed, thinking along the lines of 'how romantic' and 'Hojo better do that'. Just then the teacher came in and they had to sit down for math to start.

* * *

"Kagome?" he asked, hoping that she wouldn't laugh at him, "would you care to allow me to court you?" he then closed his eyes tight, preparing himself for the hardest and most depressing blow of his life. 

After a few seconds, he opened his eyes slowly, peering at Kagome with a look of fear on his face. She was sitting frigid, not moving whatsoever, except for her eyes, which were misting up with tears. Whatever Inuyasha was thinking, this was worse. She was rejecting him so much that she was crying in disgust.

"d- do you mean like dating me?" Kagome asked, looking down into Inuyasha's eyes.

"if that means that I am allowed to give you presents and woo you, yes." Inuyasha laid his hands over Kagome's and helped her open the box. Inside was a small dagger with a golden handle. It was a simple design, a Celtic knot weaving throughout it with two lion's heads holding an opal, but it was beautiful.

Kagome carefully and tenderly took it out of the box to examine it closer. After looking to Inuyasha and back to the dagger several times, she dropped the dagger to her side and proceeded to jump into Inuyasha's arms and they both fell into a patch of lilacs.

"so, that means yes, right?"

* * *

Yech, I hate romantic moments! But I guess I owed you guys for having such a long break. Also, this chapter is 18 pages to tell ya. My normal chapter is about 6-9 pages, I hope y'all are happy. And sorry for the cliffie, it just fit! I used almost all of my 'guest apperences' that were sent in, so I thank you all who did send something in. I promise my next chapter will be out 'on time', dark 


	27. dating?

I know: 'that was soo long, why don't you do that more often' right? My excuse is that it took too long and you guys were about to murder me for that. Oh, and by the way, I only own my own imagination. Sorry for not updating sooner, I had finals and I don't know how often I'll be able to update this summer because I'll be with my dad.

* * *

Chapter 27: dating?

Last time: Kagome carefully and tenderly took it out of the box to examine it closer. After looking to Inuyasha and back to the dagger several times, she dropped the dagger to her side and proceeded to jump into Inuyasha's arms and they both fell into a patch of lilacs.

"so, that means yes, right?"

this time: "yes, oh, yes!" Kagome exclaimed, sealing it with a kiss. If there was a redder thing than Inuyasha's face right then, it wasn't on earth. Inuyasha nuzzled her neck, taking in her scent, and hummed in pleasure.

"little brother! Little brother Inuyasha!" came a young voice, somewhere from the balcony.

Kagome stuck her head up out of the lilacs and looked around for the person calling Inuyasha. "that doesn't sound like Sesshomaru," she commented, trying not to lose her balance as Inuyasha sat up to look out to the balcony.

"its Bunza."

"who?" Kagome asked, realizing that she was straddling Inuyasha's lap and was hoping that her face wasn't as red as she thought it was.

"when I went to Totosai to learn how to break the barrier, I met a lynx pup named Bunza. He calls me little brother because he was there first to learn the same thing," Inuyasha explained before noticing their… peculiar positioning in relation to each other. They both flamed red before Kagome stood up and went to collect the box and dagger from the dirt under the bench, carefully sweeping off the dirt that marred the dagger before slipping it into a sheathe that was under the presenting padding of the box. Then she quickly brushed off the last traces of lilac and re-setting her kimono.

Inuyasha waved at the kit and he waved back, disregarding the garden and bounding to his 'ototo-san.' "you're here!" Bunza yelled in greeting, waving his hands wildly. The little kit jumped into Inuyasha's arms and gave his neck a hug.

"hey kit, where's your old man?"

"I'm not that old Inuyasha-ooji," came a voice from behind them. The lynx lord came to a stop in front of Inuyasha and bowed in respect, "I apologize for the last time we met. I was not aware that you were related to Sesshomaru-sama or I would have treated you with more respect."

Inuyasha cringed a little, not liking to be reminded that he was related to Sesshomaru-baka. "I dress like a commoner for that purpose. Did you want to talk to me?"

No, no, but who is this little vixen behind you?" he asked, seeing that Kagome had walked over and was holding onto Inuyasha's arm for support on her zori sandals.

"my Kagome," Inuyasha defended, stepping in front of her slightly.

Lynx-sama gave a knowing smirk and noticed the dagger tucked into her obi, "and freshly chosen also. given up on Uwakionna, have you?"

Inuyasha looked like he had just smelled something foul, "I never even gave her a chance, Lynx-sama," he quickly corrected, not wanting to be associated with that slut at all.

He held up his arms in a friendly gesture and smiled, "of course, Inuyasha-ooji. I wish the both of you long lives," the lynx turned and bowed slightly, "my lady," and left with Bunza.

"they seemed… nice," Kagome commented, not knowing where the whole 'hide behind Inuyasha around strangers' thing came up.

Inuyasha nodded, turning to his _official_ mate-to-be, "I didn't think they would be here. The lords usually don't bring their children to things like this, especially where it would be easy to kidnap one for ransom…" he stopped, seeing Kagome's worried face, knowing that she was thinking of her 'son' Shippou. "don't worry," Inuyasha gave her an embrace (freaking her out completely), "Shippou is safe with Sango and the lecher… with Sango at least." Kagome nodded, settling her head under Inuyasha's chin tiredly.

Inuyasha took the silent cue and picked Kagome up bridal style. It was getting late and the ball was coming to a close for the evening. Taking a leap, Inuyasha landed on the balcony overlooking the gardens and set Kagome back down so they could say their farewells to the others still inside. Inuyasha didn't have many people to talk to in the first place, so he followed Kagome around to the different demons, and the few hanyou that were there also.

One in particular caught Inuyasha's attention when Kagome stopped to talk to her. The demon, no hanyou he determined with another sniff from his distance, was blue. Blue hair, blue wings, blue clothes, and overall just blue. He stepped closer as Kagome pulled out her sheathed dagger to show the girl. "… how long are you staying, lady Kagome?" the girl asked, fingering the Celtic design in gold to match knot that was on the handle.

"I don't know…"

"we're leaving tomorrow morning, my mate has a playdate that she promised to her son," Inuyasha provided, snaking his hand around her waist in a semi-possessive gesture.

"your son, but your so young!" Marina commented, confusion written all over her face.

"he's not really my son, yet, I still have to adopt him. His name's Shippou and he's a kitsune child," Kagome fished out of her kimono a picture and showed it to her.

"wow, this portrait is so realistic, who painted it?" Marina asked, fingering the photo.

"oh, oops, ah, you can't find the painter anywhere if you tried, sorry," Kagome realized her mistake and rubbed the back of her neck.

"the painter's from her lands. It wouldn't be worth the trip to go just to find that he isn't available," Inuyasha expanded, giving Kagome one of his 'we'll talk about this later' looks. Kagome nodded back knowing that she was in trouble.

"so this is Shippou, he's a beautiful child. Tell me when you plan to adopt him so I can send my blessings, with your mating also!" she remembered, handing back the dagger and photo. "when you want to send me something, or visit, I live south of the southern islands. 'night!" she exclaimed, bouncing away to talk to another person that was still awake.

"'night," Kagome waved her oblivious friend off before turning back to Inuyasha, "I'm going to have to get used to us being this close, won't I?" she asked, locking her hands behind Inuyasha's neck and swaying to the music that up until then had been background until then. Inuyasha growled in response and allowed Kagome to lead him to the center where they could dance without running into too many obstacles, animate or not.

* * *

A half-hour- and a couple dances- later, Inuyasha practically carried Kagome into their room and laid her on the bed. After a few failed attempts at undoing her obi, Inuyasha rolled his eyes and sat down on the bed behind her and carefully untied the mess of a so-called knot to free Kagome from the material's confines. "I helped haha-oya with her kimono when she was still alive. They haven't gotten any simpler in your time, have they?" Inuyasha asked, sighing in relief when the final knot came undone.

"no, but only some people wear kimono any more. Only at weddings and sometimes at festivals, but not that often," Kagome shrugged off the top three layers in a sigh of relief, before realizing that she had another complicated knot to get through before she was free to sleep. Chuckling slightly, Inuyasha started on this knot as well without Kagome asking.

"they don't want these off, do they?" Inu asked, pulling the sash to emphasize his point. Kagome smiled back, mentally checking that there was, indeed, another sash tying her white yukata together. Together they took off the final layers to reveal the yukata that Kagome was going to sleep in and Kagome flopped down in relief on the bed.

"much better," she sighed, curling up to her side in mock sleep. She really did feel much better, and lighter too, with the kimono off. A couple of seconds later, she felt an indent behind her on the bed. "hey, what are you doing?" Kagome asked, turning so she could see the other hanyou.

"getting ready for bed, what's it look like?" Inuyasha asked back, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Kagome could barely peel her eyes off of his bare chest to answer, "ah… not in my bed, you aren't," she said, but her mind said otherwise: 'ohh, yummy! Who knew he was built under those baggy clothes? I did!'

"and why not," Inuyasha leaned in to Kagome's face, "we are intended, aren't we? And we've slept in the same place before, haven't we?"

a blush blossomed as Kagome stuttered a response, "y-yes, but don't do anything! I-I still have things on under this!" she practically yelped, gesturing to her yukata.

"fine," Inuyasha grinned, "you can't do anything either."

Kagome's shocked face was priceless, she wouldn't dare! Then again… at least he still had a pair of pants on… "fine then, goodnight!" she said in a huff, burrowing herself into the plush covers.

"goodnight!" he said in the most seductive voice he had, sending shivers down her spine, before settling down on his side. After a few minutes, Inuyasha's breathing evened out to where Kagome thought he was asleep and turned over to face him instead of the side of the bed and started fingering a stray strand of Inuyasha's hair until she fell asleep. The fact was, Inuyasha's eyes were open the entire time and he reveled in Kagome's ministrations to that small lock of hair until he also fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Inuyasha woke up to the most beautiful sight in front of him. He must have turned over in their sleep, because he was now mere inches away from Kagome as her head rested on his chest. His arms encircled her in a light protective embrace while one of her hands was placed firmly on his collarbone. One hand crept up from the embrace to her ear to lightly play with the ear that wasn't flicking with each breath that he took.

'If only it could last all morning' was Inuyasha's thought as he closed his eyes once again to listen to her steady heart and breathing.

About an hour later, the treacherous sun started peeking in from the balcony windows and straight onto Kagome's eyes, causing her to stir. Inuyasha heard it first, her slightly quickened heart and breath, to signal her waking. "Mmm," she snuggled under Inuyasha's chin while trying to block the sun out of her eyes. He pretended to be asleep, listening to what her reaction to being in their position would be. "Mr. sun, go away. Tell Inu-kun I don't want to get up yet," she mumbled, turning her head back into the dark. At least she knew where she was, unlike so many times before. "that's what it is, green firewood…" Kagome sighed, relaxing as much as she could with the sun in her eyes, "what's mine…?"

'o…kay… that was off-topic…' Inuyasha thought, opening his eyes to stare down at the crown of her head. "umm… I don't know?" Inuyasha tried, if she was asleep, it didn't matter what you said, right?

Kagome pulled back, eyes wide open, "I knew you were awake, Inuyasha," she drawled, struggling out of his embrace and out of the blankets.

Inuyasha closed his eyes tight, but it was too late, "no I'm not. See, I'm asleep," he teased, pointing to his closed eyes. Kagome scoffed and rolled her eyes, walking over to her regular clothes.

"Are we going to have breakfast first, or are we going to leave without saying a 'thank you' to your brother first?" she asked, slipping out of her yukata to reveal her binding and panties.

"breakfast first. But I've been meaning to ask, what are those things around your neck?" Inuyasha replied, letting the blankets pool around his waist as he sat up.

Kagome turned around partly and gave him a 'are you _that_ dense' look, "your rosary Inuyasha."

"not that, the other things," Inuyasha clarified, wincing a little at the tone she used with the word rosary.

"the jewel shards, the pawprint and… this," Kagome held up a pendant that looked like a knot of gold thread. "it's a charm that my aunt gave me before I fell down the well. She said that it would get me out of trouble by calling… someone, I can't remember who, to defend me. I think it was a god or something that she named. Sorry, but it just has sentimental value to me, nothing else Inuyasha." Kagome gave a feeble smile and put on her T-shirt before her haori. "well, lets go then," came Kagome's more cheerful voice, holding out her arms for Inuyasha to approve.

He nodded and stood up slowly, letting his back pop back into place from spending the night on a soft surface. "like this," Inuyasha joked, gesturing to himself in white hakama and nothing else. Kagome flamed red and turned to give him some privacy. "what, its not like you were staring at it all last night," he continued, walking up to Kagome and his red robes. Kagome moved over to the polished silver to check her reflection, but noticed that her makeup from the previous night hadn't smudged at all while she slept, neither did Inuyasha's, weird.

"our markings…" Kagome started hesitantly, touching her forehead.

"what about them?" Inuyasha asked distractedly, adjusting his regular hakama.

"they're still there…why? I thought they would have smudged off or something…" Kagome tried to rub the crescent off.

"its youkai makeup. It lasts a while because of our youkai blood, but eventually wears off. Sesshomaru only has to touch-up his markings once a year, but ours will hopefully only last less than a month or two," Inuyasha explained, looking in the silver also to eye his cheeks with a sigh, "mine will last until the new moon, but I don't know about you with turning youkai instead of human… come on, breakfast is this way," Inuyasha gestured to the door, settling his rosary comfortably over his clothes.

Inuyasha led Kagome to a different room than the previous day's breakfast, but two meals were already there amidst the variety of flowers that seemed to consume the room. "its beautiful," Kagome said in awe, looking around to see that it was a solarium.

"I thought you would like it. I asked Sesshomaru and he said I could use it for breakfast as his 'engagement present' to us. Breakfast is getting cold," Inuyasha stated the obvious as he sat at the low table.

There was nikuma and mochi, as well as some miso to start off with. "Mochi!" Kagome smiled widely at the pastry-style biscuit and place one on her plate after catching herself from almost devouring the entire thing in one bite. "heh, I guess that I should leave that for last, ne?" she asked sheepishly, grabbing some of the rice porridge to start off with to save her embarrassment.

"The food last night wasn't that bad, was it?" Inuyasha asked in a drawl, fishing a granola bar out of his haori that he had grabbed out of Kagome's yellow bottomless pit a.k.a. her backpack. Kagome gave him a glare and continued to eat her porridge. Inuyasha took a breath to catch the room's floral scent and caught a stray scent that he wasn't expecting. "uh-oh…"

"What?" Kagome asked, shifting into a more mobile position just in case.

"Nothing, just your cycle changed after you did…" Inuyasha said with a dusting of pink, looking anywhere but to the girl he was sitting across.

"Wha… cyc… oh." Kagome looked down to her lap in embarrassment.

"youkai heat is less frequent and more potent than human heat. You'll be starting your heat in a couple of days, so we need to get home before you get attacked…" Inuyasha dropped off, both starting to blush more understanding what would happen.

"so, who will get locked up?" Kagome asked, coming to her own solution for the next… however long it took.

"you or the entire youkai male population," Inuyasha tried for a joke, but failed miserably.

"so… last night…"

"no!" Inuyasha interrupted, understanding what she was asking, "yes? I don't know…" they fell silent for the rest of the meal, Kagome packing away the sweet to eat on the road.

"we should tell Sesshomaru-sama thanks for the breakfast, he's probably up by now," Kagome commented, trying to pick up the conversation again. Inuyasha nodded absently, staring down a particular flower that was partially draped over the table.

The white magnolia caught his attention and, while Kagome was turned, he cut it free with his claws. "should we go now?" Kagome asked, oblivious to the moment in the making. Inuyasha nodded silently and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"a flower milady?" he said in a mock accent, offering the flower under her nose, startling Kagome.

"umm… sure," she took the flower and tucked it into her hair, using the stem to create a waterfall-type hairstyle.

"lets go, before you decide to stay the entire day," Inuyasha motioned, leaving Kagome to take a final look at the solarium.

* * *

Okay, that ending wasn't the best I could do, but I'm kinda in the middle of a writers block. I had finals and next week I'm going with my dad for the summer and I don't know when I'll be able to update next. Until next time, bye! dark 


	28. heat

Marks chapter 28

Sorry for such a long time for not updating, but when I found out that the disc that I thought had all of my work from over the summer had nothing but… nothing on it, I was completely bummed. I had practically no motivation, but one of my flamers' that I supposedly should call her brought me out of my daze. I guess this is for her. oh, and by the way: I don't own inuyasha except for the first three movies and a book!

* * *

Last time: "lets go, before you decide to stay the entire day," Inuyasha motioned, leaving Kagome to take a final look at the solarium.

This time: it had been a couple of days since they had left the safe grounds' and now the two humans and two demons had arrived at the village that they had come to know as home.

"Do you think that lady Kagome and Inuyasha have made it back yet?" Miroku asked, looking out from where he was sitting on the hill.

"I don't know, Houshi, but it has been more than three days since they left. Kagome said that they would be there two days, so it might take them another day to show if they walk," Sango was polishing her hirakotsu a few paces out of reach.

Kilala looked up from where she was napping between the two humans and looked at the bushes with her head tilted and her ears foreword.

"Inuyasha stop that! It tickles!" came a yell from the bushes, along with a crashing sound.

"Momma!" Shippou came screeching past the humans and into the bush.

"Speak of the demons…"

"And I was just starting to like the quiet…"

"They're back!" they said at the same time, standing up to meet the missing members of the group. Surprisingly, they didn't have to go far, but to watch the missing couple literally roll out of the bushes with Inuyasha on top.

"It does? Then how about—"

"I'm glad that you're back Kagome!" Sango didn't want to know what the end of Inuyasha's sentence was.

Kagome's head snapped back to look at an upside-down Sango, "oh, hello." She grinned, struggling out from under Inuyasha, "I guess we're back before I thought we would be. We have to talk about something important first though." Inuyasha groaned longingly and the couple both sobered, "but lets take a bath first, okay?" Kagome gave a grin and swayed her hips before heading to the springs.

"I'm going to get you for that, wench!" Inuyasha grumbled, stalking to Kaede's hut, but not before grabbing the front of Miroku's robes so he couldn't follow the girls.

* * *

"I've heard of that, but I'm even more surprised that you haven't taken her yet. This shows great restraint on your part." Miroku commented, closing his eyes and leaning back in Kaede's hut.

"And I won't until I've mated her, pervert. That's the problem, I don't want any filthy hands on her! We've already been attacked once because of it!"

* * *

"And then the bear demon attacked, foaming at the mouth and all. It was so disgusting and it demanded that it wanted me! Not the shards, me! It didn't get too far though before Inuyasha incinerated it. And he didn't even use the fang!" Kagome exclaimed, splashing around in the springs to emphasize her point.

"You know that they're going to keep attacking as long as this is going on, right? And it'll get worse the longer it goes, also." Sango leaned on a boulder as she used some soap and a hand towel.

"Inuyasha told me that demon heat was longer and less frequent than human heat, but how long will I be running away from every male that I come across?"

"Well, I don't know, but it's a good guess to say about two weeks. Since youkai heat is an entire month, twice a year. And the average would be about two weeks on and two months in between. Lucky you?" Sango shrugged and offered to scrub Kagome's back with the soapy towel.

* * *

"It would be best for ye to ward Kagome until this spell is over. Like ye were when ye had the injury though your gut, Inuyasha." Kaede suggested, coming in from her duties around the village.

"True, and it would minimize risk of you losing to your instincts also Inuyasha." Miroku dodged the bowl that was thrown at him from the irate hanyou.

"I don't…!" Inuyasha let his retort drop with a feh.'

"Wasn't that thing smashed last time I looked?" Inuyasha asked, remembering the oni attack that set him free.'

"The villagers repaired it in thanks to ye, Inuyasha. It is well stalked for ye group's use, as well as any passing traveler also."

Inuyasha nodded, "I'll tell Kagome as soon as they get back from their bath. It's for the best."

"For the best," Miroku agreed, picking up the bowl that had luckily not shattered upon impact and ladled some stew into it.

"What's for the best?" Kagome pushed aside the curtain and sat down next to Inuyasha.

"We're going to lock you up until your heat cycle is over." Inuyasha explained blandly, causing the others to balk.

"Oh." Kagome leaned against Inuyasha, causing him to sweat a little, "where did you come up with that idea?" her voice was less than pleased.

"It was when Sesshomaru put his hand though Inuyasha's gut and you were trapped in your time because Inuyasha put a tree down the well," Shippou explained in one breath.

"And am I going to be tied up like a pig also?" yes, they had told her what they had to do to Inuyasha.

"I do not think that would be wise to do, lady Kagome, but I do suggest that Inuyasha is not allowed into the hut during the time you are in it." Miroku denied, inching toward Sango.

"I will stay with Kagome. That way it would lesson the amount of risk and help if anything comes up." Sango volunteered, packing her small shoulder bag for the stay.

"What, am I invisible?" Kagome mumbled to herself, unconsciously rubbing up against Inuyasha before closing her eyes.

"No, you are not, lady Kagome, but either way you are going into the hut for the remainder of the time of your…" Miroku turned red from embarrassment, finally completely comprehending the situation.

"Heat." Sango gave the boys a dry look. "Shippou, are you going to keep Kagome company also?" the boy nodded enthusiastically and jumped to Kagome's head.

"Yay! This can be our week together! We can play the entire time, it'll be fun momma!" Shippou bounced from head to lap and gave a huge grin.

"Yes it will Shippou, but it might get boring after a while though," Kagome warned the kit.

"Lady Kagome, we should use the remaining light of the day to get your palace ready for you to stay in, don't you agree?" Miroku asked, standing up and gesturing to go outside.

Kagome nodded and stood up, realizing a moment later that Inuyasha's hand was attached to her hip :stay: he whuffed, trying to pull her back down.

"This isn't a good idea Inuyasha. What would my mom say?" that froze Inuyasha in his tracks. Sure, she wanted grandpups, but she had also made it _very_ clear not before her 18th birthday. Damn, two more years before anything could happen, two more years of this torture.

Inuyasha let go of her waist and looked into the corner. "Go then. I'll come when they put the wards up." He stood up and left, presumably to the Goshinboku.

"… And on that lovely note, we should go also!" Miroku smiled nervously and pushed aside the door mat for the girls. Kagome nodded forlornly and exited, leaving the humans to give each other some weak comfort before a barrier separated them for at least a week. You see: Inuyasha and Kagome weren't the only ones that used this time off for personal relationships to bloom.

* * *

"It's… homey." Kagome sat down on the nearest pile of hey and sighed. The hut was small and didn't have any windows. Indeed, it was a storage hut, nothing special to it. At least there was a sliding door that was wooden, so the wards would hold off at least a little better than if there was no door.

The interior was nothing more special than the outside: hay on either side of the entrance, a shelf with some provisions, and a partitioned wall to separate it into a front and a back room. At least it was bigger than when Inuyasha stayed in it the last time.

"Look at it this way: at least you're not some bear demon's mate now!" Sango attempted some humor while spreading out some rough blankets to make a pair of futons from the hey.

Kagome shivered, "thank Kami! That would have ruined everything!" Kagome laid down on one of the futon' and looked at the ceiling, "with Inuyasha asking to court me and everything at Sesshoumaru's, it would have just defeated the purpose of accepting."

"You're being courted?" Sango gasped, "it's about time!" Kagome nodded and took out the dagger that was attached to her sash. "Wow, a gift and everything! When'd he find the time to get that anyway?"

"I don't know, but it's pretty anyway." Kagome blushed and put it away. "Oh, you can pass the wards, right?" Sango nodded, "good. Then I can take a nap and you can go off with Miroku if you want."

Now it was Sango's turn to blush, "I… we're…"

"I see the way he looks at you. Go ahead, it's not like I can stop you." Kagome grinned and pushed Sango toward the door, "if you're worried about me, I have Shippou to protect me."

"That's right! I can protect momma!" Shippou puffed up his chest from where he was on the shelf and struck a pose. Both girls gave a small smile.

* * *

"No way! I am_not_ going on another wild-goose chase for you!"

This was how the more… demonic members of the Reiki Tantei found Yusuke: standing in front of Koenma's desk with his hands pinning helpless papers to the young ruler's desk.

"Just hear me out Yusuke, it is important that you find the jewel and retrieve it from whoever is possessing it now!" Koenma sucked on his royal blue pacifier furiously, "and besides, it's a liability and is very dangerous in Ningenkai if it falls into the wrong hands."

Yusuke lowered his head to the toddler's height; "my cou… whoever is guarding the jewel shards now is doing a better job than you could. If these two," Yusuke nodded his head to acknowledge Kurama and Hiei, "could break into your vault, just imagine how easy it would be for someone more powerful to get in!"

Koenma looked shocked—sure the security had been upped since then—but Yusuke was correct. The guardian _had_ managed to hide its aura for a while now. "And it's currently shattered, if you're planning on wasting precious time on gathering all the pieces, don't involve me in it!" Yusuke was practically fuming by now and a certain high-and-mighty' was wishing he were invisible.

"All I want you to do is scout out who this protector' is and make sure he's doing a good job. And if not, bring him back here so we can convince him to leave the jewel…" Koenma paled considerably, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHATTERED?" he yelled, almost losing grip on his pacifier.

"Shattered. Ka-boom. Hit with a hamaya and scattered all over feudal Japan, that's what I mean. Sure, I'll check out where _she_ lives, if only to see how _she's_ doing." With that, Yusuke left to go back to his date with Keiko; oh, joy. He looked over his shoulder to the two demons, "tomorrow's a Monday, ditch class and meet me at eight."

A silent question passed between them and Kurama shrugged, "the teachers won't miss me, I've turned in all my assignments for the week." Hiei nodded only once and left in a burst of speed to… wherever he spent his nights.

* * *

"How was your date?" Kagome asked though a yawn. She had slept though the entirety of the afternoon and was definitely quite awake now… at least as awake as one can be after just waking up.

"What date, there wasn't any date!" Sango stuttered like a teenager that was just caught coming in after curfew.

"Mm-hmm," Kagome gave Sango a knowing look. "And I suppose that red spot on your neck is just a rash." Sango blushed and pulled her yukata shut more. Kagome went over to Shippou's little territory and started putting crayons back into the box, "I guess I need to get more crayons when I get back. How was Shippou while we were gone?"

Sango bent down to organize some papers that were also scattered around. "Depressed. I don't know about before I came, but Shippou's always been with one of you two as long as I've known. He missed you a lot."

"I know. He didn't say anything, but I think he may be afraid to lose us like he lost his parents to the Thunder brothers. I'm sorry that I seem a bit tired, but I haven't slept that well since we've been gone. I think Inuyasha explained that it was that the scent was different without you guys, and I was worried about my pup." Kagome picked up Shippou gently and held him close.

"Yeah," Sango nodded, "I think we all felt a little off kilter." Sango took the other futon and lied down.

"Hey, you didn't tell me: what's the deal with the markings?" Kagome smiled softly and absently tried in vain to rub off the makeup.

"It's demon makeup. You saw Inuyasha's also, right? Well, they're clan markings from what I can tell. They'll fade by the end of the month for Inuyasha, but we don't know how long it'll take for mine to fade. I just hope it's soon!" Kagome stuck out her tongue and laughed.

"Hey, you!" a shout came from outside, "get out of here!"

"Where is it?" came the gruff reply, "give me the woman!"

"She's mine you peabrain!" that was definitely Inuyasha.

"What is it this time?" Kagome asked, watching Sango change into her fighting uniform.

"It looks like a boar demon," Sango commented, sliding the door open a crack, "and an ugly one at that!"

Kagome cringed, "are you going out?"

"Only if I have to, but Inuyasha seems a little peeved. I wouldn't want to be in that demon's tunic!" a strangled type of screech resonated though the air before all was silent. "Well, that was easy, but Inuyasha didn't have to go that far…" Sango fell silent before turning green and shutting the door.

"That bad huh? And Inuyasha is probably doing the same thing that he did last time."

"He did _that_ last time also?" Sango really did look sick.

"Yeah and then he—"

"Oh, Kami!" Sango peeked out the door again.

"Why don't you go to bed before you get sick, okay?" Sango nodded and weaved her way to her futon, collapsing on it drunkenly.

* * *

"Hey Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever had cake before?" it had been several days and the couple had found a way around the wards.

"No, what's cake?" Inuyasha asked back through the wall. They had found a knothole and they were sitting on their respective sides of the wards.

"It's like sweet bread. You have it when you're celebrating something. When we get back, I'll bake you one to celebrate our anniversary, alright?" Kagome was leaning against the wall doing her homework that was still due even if she had been turned into a hanyou or not.

"Okay. How's the runt doing?"

"Okay. He's doing pretty good on his writing, but I think Sango or Miroku probably taught him some."

"What would they know about youkai writing?"

"Spy work, diplomatic work, it's just something you pick up when you're involved with youkai all the time I guess."

"Yeah, Sango sending her enemy a note of apology before slaying them!" Sango and Miroku had gone out and they were apparently out of hearing range because there was no retort from said Taijiya.

"That's not that funny, ya' know." Kagome drawled, turning a page in her algebra book.

"Then what would the monk need with youkai language?" Inuyasha was sure she would be stumped with this one.

"The diplomatic work. And studying old texts I guess. There are no accounts of demons in my time because none of it's in any human language. Anything that was about demons is considered a fairy tale. Miroku's probably learned about demon history out of demon books, thus needed to learn the youkai language." Kagome felt relatively smug with her answer.

"…Hey, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think momma is worried about me by now? I mean, it's been almost a month and I haven't gone home yet."

"I visited your mom when we got back. She was happy that you are uninjured."

Kagome laughed lightly and looked at her arm, "then you didn't tell her about—"

"No, it'll be healed by the time she sees you. Besides, she'll have my hair if I would tell her." Kagome snorted as a vision of a bald Inuyasha passed her eyes.

"What's so funny wench?" Inuyasha growled out.

"You—you with no hair!" Kagome burst out laughing and started rolling on the floor.

"What's the matter momma?" Shippou asked, peering over the hey pile to where Kagome was.

"N—nothing sweetie. I was just thinking of something funny. Have you finished your work yet?" Kagome was referring to the page of youkai that she had written out for him to work on reading and copying.

"No, but I'm almost done!"

"That's good. If you get stuck, don't be afraid to ask me." If she didn't know any better, she would have said that Shippou had grown a few inches while they were gone, but that was ridiculous. How could something grow that fast in such a short amount of time?

"I think Shippou's getting taller, we should really plan on doing the adoption soon. Don't you think so?"

"The full moon is coming up, so I would be the one to go first if you want me to. Or you could go first to give him less human blood just in case."

"It would probably be best to have me go first, and then you. I don't know how he would react to the human blood since he's full kitsune." Kagome mumbled, lowering her voice so Shippou wouldn't overhear.

"But mating would give us both human and demon nights, so we should wait until then…"

"Momma did say no grandbabies until I was 18, but she didn't say anything about mating. We'll just have to be careful then," Inuyasha was speechless, "…that is, unless you do want to wait."

"Would you?… I mean… we should wait like Sango and Miroku, right?"

"Not like Sango and Miroku, but we should wait at least a little while. We still need to collect jewel shards, and I have to finish high school—if I can—and then there's also Naraku to consider…"

"He has been very quiet, hasn't he? What's that bastard up to now?"

"And with Naraku still out there, it would be best to adopt Shippou. And thus the circle starts again." Kagome sighed and Inuyasha groaned in agreement.

"So… you want to do it before we get mated?"

"I… I guess so. It would really be the best for Shippou after all." Shippou smiled quietly, he would finally have parents again.

* * *

And thus comes and goes another chapter. I'm sorry for such a bad one and the long wait that made it even worse. I guess after 8 months, you get a bit rusty. You're wondering about that middle portion, going what the heck?' right? Well, I did say (and hint) that this would be a crossover, I just didn't have the right place to put it until now! oh, and I don't own inuyasha either!

Dark


	29. Yusuke

Well, I've been sick for the past couple of weeks with a fever, possible strep and a double ear infection (fun, huh?) and I finally caught up on my e-mails that accumulated over that time.

Disclaimer: (oops, I forgot to do this last time) Inuyasha, YuYu Hakusho, Nintendo, and whatever else is not mine.

Last time: "I… I guess so. It would really be the best for Shippou after all." Shippou smiled quietly, he would finally have parents again.

* * *

He looked over his shoulder to the two demons, "tomorrow's a Monday, ditch class and meet me at eight."

* * *

This time: Ding-Don—"it's about time you got here!" the bell didn't even finish ringing before the door was yanked open to reveal a slightly irritated toushin.

"Sorry Yusuke, but we are only a few moments late," Kurama brushed past, smiling slightly. In truth, he was up quite a while earlier, looking for the diminutive fire-demon Hiei, who flit past in a blur to reappear by the window.

"Whatever, at least we can leave now," Yusuke ran his fingers through his (for once) un-gelled hair and closed the door.

"Are you going to gel up your hair, or are you leaving it like that today?" Kurama asked, spotting the human carrot-top Kuwabara with his hair down also.

"Call it a disguise. Where we're goin', I got a bit of a different rep. Now are we goin' or not?" Yusuke called, grabbing his green jacket and house keys and ushering the others out of the dump called an apartment.

"Where exactly are we going anyway, Yusuke?" Kurama asked, looking around at the seemingly foreign settings of the opposite side of town. They had been walking and had even taken a short train ride all morning and was now in the more country-like part of town. Kurama had been all over this town, but this particular part had not caught his interest before. There was a shrine nearby and a few very small temples, but not enough to be somewhere to actually start a search for a powerful artifact.

Kuwabara and Yusuke exchanged looks and Yusuke gave him a small nod. "Errands," Kuwabara answered, "we need to get something and then we'll go to the shrine." They rounded a corner and a school came into view with the students milling around outside before the bell. The boys were in the typical uniform, but in black, and the girls wore a white and green fuku (girl's uniform) with the skirt that was almost embarrassingly short.

"First stop. You guys wait here," Yusuke grinned a little and ventured inside the school grounds to meet the screams of fangirls, three in particular.

"Hey Kazuma!" one of the three girls yelled over, waving enthusiastically. Kuwabara waved back and nodded towards Kurama. The girl's eyes got really big and she pulled on the sleeve of her friend's blouse, she looked over and followed her friend's line of sight and nearly fainted in shock.

"Heh, looks like you have fans here also, Minnamoto," came a voice behind them. The trio turned and faced the boy that spoke up; pushing along a black bike that matched his uniform. Although he had a distinctly 'wolf demon' aura, he looked completely human. "My name's Hojo, and you're Suiichi Minnamoto, correct?"

Kurama bowed, "that is what my classmates call me at least, but I do not think I know you…"

"You don't. But your reputation precedes you and you knew my parents a long time ago." Hojo bowed back and started fishing around in his backpack, "Kazuma, long time, no see. Are you visiting?"

"Yeah, we're going to the shrine after Urameshi picks up her missing work." Kuwabara nodded, eyeing Hojo's backpack.

"That's good, but she's been gone about a month this time, it might take him a while to get everything." Hojo's eyes lit up as he pulled a wrapped package out and handed to Kuwabara, "can you take this to them. It's for her Monocytosis. I'd give it to Yusuke but…" he looked over at the spirit detective turned demon and shook his head.

There was now a crowd of girls around him, ogling him like he was a celebrity. Yusuke held up his hands, attempting to push his way to the school, but the mass moved with him. The creepy thing was, there were even a few boys joining the girls now. Sighing and brushing his hair out of his face, he looked up at the building for a sign of some sort.

One of the girls was pushed from the back and she attempted to leap on the poor boy, taking him down to the dirt. When she sat back up, she was in sniffles, holding up a life-size doll of Yusuke. Said person sighed in relief and saluted to the other detectives from the steps of the school before slipping inside. "There's a reason," Kuwabara grinned, shaking his head, "that he learned that trick."

"That is a kitsune trick, I was not aware that Yusuke studied magic," Kurama observed, silently hoping that the girls would not swarm him now.

"The bell's about to ring. I hope that you'll visit sooner next time Kuwabara, mom's still holding that order for you." And with that, Hojo pushed his bike over to the racks and locked it up.

Luckily, the first warning bell wrung and the majority of the students dispersed, leaving the original trio of girls walking toward the gates and the three boys there. Hiei rolled his eyes, not wanting another encounter like the others, and flitted into the nearest tree. "Kazuma!" the same girl from before dragged her companions behind her, "why didn't you tell me that you knew The Suiichi?"

"'The Suiichi'…?" Kuwabara looked over at the crimson haired kitsune avatar. "Oh! He works for the same guy that I do."

If possible, all three sets of eyes nearly fell out of their respective heads. "Y-you mean that you're working for a detective agency also? Wow…" the other two nodded and started migrating to in front of Kurama.

"Yes, I help solve cases along with my companions," Kurama gave a graceful bow, hiding the growth of three red roses. "And may I ask your names, ladies?" he requested, standing up and presenting the flowers.

The girls introduced themselves as Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka and took a rose each, giggling.

"You don't want to be late girls, we'll be back tomorrow so you can see us then," Yusuke called, walking across the grounds with a cute smile. The girls giggled some more and ran off, right as the second warning bell wrung.

Yusuke watched until the girls made it inside before turning to the boys, holding up a manila folder, "first mission accomplished, you hungry?"

* * *

"ARG!" Kagome flopped down face-first onto her makeshift futon and started kicking her legs, "I'm so BORED!" the others had assured her only a few more days, but this was starting to become REDICULUS! She'd finished all of her homework (and then some), played with Shippou as well as given him as many lessons as he could handle at the time. And now there was NOTHING to do. Miroku and Sango had even been called on to follow a possible shard rumor in the next town, so she had no one to talk to. And Inuyasha was just as antsy as her, taking to working on the village's firewood for the next year (like they needed it). Miroku said it was sexual frustration, but what would he know about temptation, going on dates with Sango daily.

She'd even taken to using the straw as craft material, shredding it into flexible fibers and weaving it into various shapes. Who would have guessed that basket weaving was a good pastime for someone with claws? Without the strong ribbons of fabric to hold the edges together, Kagome had come up with some smallish mats that now tiled the floor that wasn't covered with the leftover hay.

"What I wouldn't give for a Nintendo right now," Kagome groaned, adjusting her head in her arms so she could watch Shippou. The kitsune had taken to an afternoon nap and Kagome was beginning to think that it was a good idea, nothing else to do anyway. Come to think about it, Shippou had been sleeping a lot lately, and taking seconds on his meals also. Kagome shrugged it off and gathered Shippou into her arms, lying down with him on the futon with a blanket covering the two.

Shippou shivered slightly and Kagome opened her eyes a crack, checking if the blanket was covering him completely. It was, but Shippou continued to shake almost imperceptibly, scrunching up his face in pain and sweating. It looked like he was having a nightmare. Kagome started growl/purring and started to stroke Shippou, hoping to break him out of the dream. Maybe he was sick? Inuyasha did say that youkai didn't get sick, but Shippou was still a child and all…

"Shippou? Shippou honey, are you alright?" Kagome propped herself up on an elbow so she could see better.

"It hurts," Shippou mumbled, keeping his face scrunched up and curling into a ball.

"What hurts, honey?" Kagome whispered, trying to see if anything was wrong.

"Everything. My arms, my legs, my head, everything," another spasm hit and he curled up tighter.

Kagome picked him up and he curled into her body. "How does it hurt? Is it hot, cold, tight…"

"Tight momma. Make it stop!" a growth spurt. When her brother had one, it was only a little one in an arm or leg that didn't hurt very much. Shippou's eyes were leaking from the pain, soaking her haori. She didn't know what to do, but when Inuyasha or the others got back she could ask them.

"I don't know if I can do that right now sweetie, but I'll try," Kagome now felt like crying herself, she didn't like feeling helpless, even as a human. She would have given him some of the pain medication that she had in her bag, but with being youkai she didn't know how it would react with his body. From personal knowledge, it wouldn't have worked anyway. She was only half youkai and many of the medicines now made her sicker than before the medications ever since she transformed.

Alone, all alone. With no way to contact anyone outside the hut, she couldn't even ask Kaede if she had any suggestions. Kagome took to rocking back and forth and humming a small song that she had heard when she was little. Underneath the humming, Kagome was subconsciously whimpering a help that was above human hearing that would carry for quite a distance.

A couple of minutes later, the hut snapped with energy, "ah, motherf… erg!" Inuyasha attempted to cover up a curse as he nursed his burnt fingers.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome moved toward the partially open door, still cradling Shippou.

"Yeah, you were calling…" Inuyasha sat down on the other side of the door and looked at what he could see of Kagome.

"… It's Shippou. I think he's having a growth spurt or something…" Kagome looked down, re-adjusting Shippou so his head was resting on her shoulder.

Inuyasha grinned and shook his head, "it's about time. I was starting to think he'd always be the runt."

"Inuyasha!"

"Okay, fine," Inuyasha held up his hand, "but this'll speed up things though. We don't want to put him through this more than we have to, don't we? Tomorrow's the full moon, so I guess I'll have to go first instead of you." Kagome nodded, not necessarily liking the idea, but agreeing nonetheless.

"Remember that other outfit that I brought back when I got your armor?" Kagome nodded her head, "when Shippou can move around a little, help him into that. I'm going to go get a plant that'll help him in the meanwhile. Good thing it grows close." Inuyasha stood up and walked into the forest, leaving Kagome and Shippou alone again.

Kagome sighed, she had a feeling that it would be like this often: waiting for others to get back and complete boredom. Standing up, she moved to her nearly buried backpack and with one arm started digging through to the bottom.

* * *

"Hey Yusuke! Where've you been?" a man in a green apron waved, picking up an apple from one of his produce stands outside of the store.

"I got a job and couldn't get away until now. Actually, I'm working right now!" Yusuke laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

The man chuckled and shook his head, "well, I need my store boy back, so tell me next time, okay?" he lobbed the apple towards Yusuke.

"Okay Mr. Tashi, I'll try to come down more often." Yusuke caught the apple and waved back.

"It seems to me that you come down here often Yusuke," Kurama observed, watching practically every storeowner on the small street greet Yusuke and even a few times Kuwabara.

"Yeah, this is where I got my rep for being 'The Great Urameshi.' With how often I skipped school and disappeared, everyone assumed that I was in a gang, but most of the time I was here helping the stores to get a little money so mom wouldn't end up on the streets. I even lived—good morning Mrs. Koko! —here for a while when mom was really bad." Yusuke laughed and threw out his arms, "this is my gang of two-thousand men!"

Another owner, this time of the local bakery, came out laughing. "Long time, no mooch! I have some day-olds if you want them."

"Aw! C'mon Mr. Daikon, it was only once, and besides you weren't gonna sell them anyway! Can Kuwabara have my share, 'cause he didn't have any breakfast." The storeowner nodded and ducked inside, bagging a couple sweet rolls and a jelly bun. By the time he got back outside, Yusuke was further down the road talking to a little kid.

"He moves fast. How long are you guys staying this time?" he asked, handing Kuwabara the treats, "give one to Yusuke, you both look too skinny for your own good."

"Don't know, it all depends on what happens at the shrine. Thanks for the rolls Mr. Daikon!" Kuwabara waved, joining the other two.

"There you go, Kyo, you'll be able to kick harder if you turn your foot that way, okay?" the little boy, Kyo, nodded and tried to kick Yusuke, but was blocked with a smile. "Keep working and maybe we'll fight some time!" the boy grinned and went back to his kata stances.

"Hn, detective, don't we have a job to do?" Hiei demanded, jumping down from the trees to walk by Kurama.

"You guys might, but this is my job. Besides, she's not even here today, so why hurry?" Yusuke strolled ahead, his hands locked behind his head.

"You just don't want to climb the stairs, right?" Kuwabara asked dryly behind a half-eaten sweet roll.

"Don't remind me." Yusuke shuddered, "and I'm always complainin' about the old hag's stairs! How she does it every day for school, I don't know." Speaking of stairs, they turned the corner and there they were. Starting at the sidewalk with a Torii gate with the sign 'Higurashi shrine' nailed to one side.

"Whoever said that all temples have to have so many stairs should really rot in hell." Yusuke mumbled as he approached the gate and put his hand on it. The paint was newer than the last time he visited, as well as the actual wood that the gate was made of. And the stairs too, they had the sharp corners that said 'I'm new' for at least the first twenty steps.

"She wasn't kidding when she called, ne (right) Kuwabara? The entire entrance was smashed just like she said." Yusuke passed the gate and felt the barest amounts of spiritual energy brush against him, "and she's been practicing. Kuwabara, why don't you climb first so if you pass out from exhaustion we can catch you before you fall all the way down." Kuwabara gave Yusuke a dry look, ruined by the powdered sugar of the jelly bun, and started climbing.

* * *

"Here," Inuyasha tossed what looked like a bluish-green carrot-like plant through the opening in the door. "Cut the root long way and have Shippou lick the juices from it. That should be able to work immediately and when it does, you can boil some tea from the stems that'll be a bit easier to get down." Inuyasha instructed, sitting down as close to the door as he could.

Kagome did as she was told and took out a cutting board and a paring knife. It sliced quite easily once she got past the outer peel, like an avocado almost. When she separated the two halves, she had to grimace at what she saw. The juices were very viscous, the only thing that she could think of to describe it was slimy.

As Kagome sat Shippou up to lick it, she could only imagine that it tasted as bad as it looked. Several times he gagged, but continued to take it anyway. After lapping up one half, Shippou went limp. Kagome panicked, lifting Shippou to her eye level and tried to get him to respond to anything.

"Kagome, calm down. He's only asleep!" Inuyasha barked, wishing that he could come in and calm her down. "It's a sleeping plant, so just put him down before you wake him up!" as in response, Shippou's head rolled forward and he gave a little snort. Kagome sighed in relief and hugged the inert kitsune before putting him down on her futon.

"I have to make some tea with what's left, right?" Kagome got the pot out, but often glanced over at Shippou nervously, as if he would disappear if she turned her back.

"Just the stems though. Using the root is poisonous in tea, and the leaves wouldn't do anything." Kagome nodded absently, adding water to the heating pot from the water bucket that Sango had left full before she left with Miroku. One thing that she learned from traveling in the feudal era, aside from packing efficiently in that bottomless yellow bag of hers, was how to make tea from practically anything.

* * *

Sigh. Sorry guys, but this is a short chapter. I promise that _something_ will actually happen next chapter. I just hope that you'll excuse Yusuke for being OOC, 'cause that's the way that I'm making 'em!

Oh! And "Monocytosis" isn't actually a disease. The literal translation is 'one cell disease.' Yeah, I got it from a friend of mine that seems to suffer from this constantly…

Dark


	30. Adoption

Heya! I didn't get that many reviews last chapter, but I guess that's my bad. Delete author notes, and THEN update chapter! Well, I just hope that I'll get more reviews this time, right? RIGHT?

As with all things on the Internet, I don't own Inuyasha. And neither Yu Yu Hakusho for that matter either.

Chapter 30: Adoption

Last time: "…Kuwabara, why don't you climb first so if you pass out from exhaustion we can catch you before you fall all the way down." Kuwabara gave Yusuke a dry look, ruined by the powdered sugar of the jelly bun, and started climbing.

* * *

One thing that she learned from traveling in the feudal era, aside from packing efficiently in that bottomless yellow bag of hers, was how to make tea from practically anything.

* * *

This time: "They're back." Kagome nodded, shifting Shippou on her other shoulder so she could look out the door, the form of a cat with two riders descended over the trees as the sun came up.

Inuyasha stood up and stretched before leaping over to greet the couple. After a few moments, Miroku nodded, seemingly agreeing to something that Inuyasha had said. Sango gave a small smile and patted Inuyasha's shoulder before he leaped off into the woods.

"How's Shippou doing?" Sango asked, walking through the door and leaving it open so Miroku could be part of the conversation.

"No better, no worse," Kagome sighed, stroking the kitsune's hair. Sango nodded and noted the change in wardrobe. During one of the brief breaks in tremors, Shippou had woken up and Kagome had helped him into the clothes he now wore. His fir vest was still there, but oddly it seemed like something that would never change.

While she was still a child, Sango had heard about demons like this: they had accessories, like Shippou's fir vest or Sesshoumaru's tail, which was a sign of status as an animal spirit. Of course, most of them had markings on their face and bodies as well. Shippou was destined to be quite powerful, that's for sure, despite his lack of visible skin markings.

Shippou, still bleary-eyed, looked around, not really taking in anything. For the adoption process that night, it was best that there were no other drugs in his system that could react badly; or so Inuyasha had insisted. The tremors weren't as bad as the day before, but Shippou was clearly still in pain.

"How's your ankle Miroku?" Kagome asked, noting that he wasn't limping as badly as before.

Miroku grinned and stretched his leg out for the girls to see, "Kaede looked at it when we got back and for a human, I apparently can heal pretty fast!" his ankle was still wrapped in bandages, but not as severely as it had been a few weeks prior.

Kagome smiled in relief, "that's good. I was starting to worry that it wouldn't heal properly."

* * *

Inuyasha reached the well in record time, and with only a moment's hesitation, jumped in. he was surrounded by the blue of the well's magic and took a deep breath. Hopefully, the project that he had asked Kagome's mom about was finished and on time.

Jumping out of the well, he nearly tripped on a plainly wrapped package at the top of the steps. "What the…?"

Looking down at the package, he noted that there was an envelope on top addressed to him. Sitting down on the stairs, he took a claw and carefully slit the envelope open to extract the letter:

_Inuyasha-kun,_

_I hope that this was what you were speaking about. If not, come inside and we can figure out where I went wrong. _

_Good luck,_

_Gin_

Inuyasha peeked inside the box and nodded in approval. He gathered it up and disappeared within the well once again with a blue flash.

"Huh?" Kurama thought he sensed something. Moving towards where the power flashed from, he sniffed discreetly. "I know this scent…" he mumbled to himself, not trusting himself to go any closer to the building without rushing inside to abate his curiosity. There was another flash of power and he slammed the door open in time to catch the last burst of light coming from what seemed like a dry well.

His eyes lit up. It had been so long since he saw something like that. Closing the door gently as he could, he stepped back and took a calming breath. As far as he knew, he had not been to this shrine before, but there was just that _something_ that called to his soul that was Yoko. "Could it be?" he mumbled to himself, unconvinced. After a moment, as like in silent debate, he shook his head. It had to be too much of a coincidence. Too long since he had been in this area that maybe his memory was skewed. That had to be it, he was getting old for his age too soon. And he was only just over 500 years old, though he told others that he was well over 1,000 to explain his colors and knowledge.

Looking around, Kurama concluded that no one saw his less-than picturesque acting moments beforehand and walked off. There was nothing he could do about it now but act like nothing happened. Kurama spent the rest of the day on the grounds like a normal tourist, reading the plaques on various buildings and praying at the main temple to Inari (fox goddess).

* * *

"Ready?"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"…It's not like you're going to attack me… right?" Inuyasha let out a terse laugh, tensing himself despite his verbal assurances.

"Yeah… I'll try." The humans looked between the two like a tennis match, just as unsure, if not more so, than the two hanyou.

Just like in the phrase, it was 'time to let the hounds out.' Miroku saw Inuyasha's tense nod, giving silent permission to peel off the last of the wards. Almost immediately, Inuyasha stiffened into the likeness of a stone statue as her alluring scent hit him. Kagome stepped forward almost as hesitantly, carrying Shippou to Inuyasha.

"Do you want to take him?" Kagome asked, holding Shippou out gently.

Inuyasha nodded, trying his hardest to not to touch Kagome in the meanwhile. He brought Shippou up so he could rest his head under Inuyasha's chin. Sniffing discreetly, Inuyasha took in Shippou's scent to imprint it more firmly into his memory. The better the scent was imprinted, the easier it was to track him if anything happened.

Shippou snuggled closer into Inuyasha and blinked tiredly, covering a small yawn. Shippou's small claws scratched lightly at Inuyasha's neck in a reflex to attempt to grab anything. It was in this moment that Inuyasha realized just how small the kit was. True, he was encountering a growth spurt, but how young was he to be this size? If the information given him was correct, Shippou would end up growing at an inu's rate, which was faster and had a longer life span in the end.

"He's ready. There are some coming, so we'll wait until dusk." Inuyasha said gently, leading the entire group into the forest along a well-known path that they all used frequently.

The clearing was a welcome sight, full of memories, and appropriate for the adoption ceremony. Inuyasha had been gone the majority of the day and Kagome now knew why. There was a large stone circle made of white river stones off to one side of the well. Inside, there was a plain brown cardboard box in between and off to the side of a pair of logs that faced each other. There were other logs to sit on, but they stood outside the ring of stones.

From the details she gleaned from Inuyasha in conversation, Kagome was fairly sure what was in the seemingly out of place box. It was the various supplies that were needed during the ceremony: an unused ceremonial bowl, a kunai, and sake that was as old as the date that the child had been found.

The first two were relatively easy to get, considering Kagome's family lived on a shrine and was used to ordering ceremonial paraphernalia for various holidays. The sake was a different matter altogether. Something with a specific date was hard to come by in the feudal era. But since Kagome came from a different time… he'd sent Gin out to find the exact date sake in her time. Relatively it would still work… just 500 (give or take) years' difference.

Kagome smiled and sat down by the well, leaning against one of its walls. There was some obscure detail that the ceremony had to take place in a significant environment to the adopters and adoptee. What was more important than the clearing of the well to the entire pack? Maybe Kaede's village, but it didn't have the serene quality that just felt right about this spot.

Inuyasha sat down next to Kagome and shifted Shippou so that he was between the two of them. Kagome tilted her head to rest on Inuyasha's shoulder to look down at the sleepy kit. "Ready Shippou?" Kagome asked softly.

Looking up, Kagome could see the fatigue in the kit's face, but underneath was the light of happiness and pride that lit up his eyes. Shippou nodded a yes and gave a small grin. As he put his head back down, Kagome saw a small flicker of worry cross his face.

It reflected in everyone's faces. Everything was too peaceful, too unexcitable to be normal. Like 'the calm before the storm' is one of the phrases Kagome brought from her time that would fit this sense of unease that settled across the field.

"The first one's coming," Inuyasha commented, looking up at the setting skies to a dark outline contrast to the pinks of the clouds. He stood up and handed Shippou back to Kagome.

The black outline quickly became larger and formed itself into the shape of a large bird. Inuyasha stepped out into the clearing with his arms in a welcoming gesture. The bird landed and shrunk, all in Inuyasha's welcoming arms. "Thanks for coming Rumiko-san."

The woman now known as Rumiko hugged Inuyasha back, "do you think I would miss something as important as this?" the blue-feathered demoness leaned back to look Inuyasha over, but spotted something more interesting off to his left. "You must be Kagome!" she slipped out of his grasp and ran as well as she could over to the startled hanyou girl. All Kagome could manage to do was nod her head and point her questioning eyes at Inuyasha.

"If you aren't Kagome, I'd be very upset. Seeing that I made these clothes specifically for her. You are Kagome, aren't you?" Rumiko cocked her head off to the side like the inquisitive bird that she was.

Inuyasha put his hands on Rumiko's shoulders and laughed lightly. "Rumiko-san, this is my mate-to-be Kagome and our soon-to-be son Shippou."

"And such a cute boy at that! Why, he looks almost just like you when you were his age!" she kneeled down and cooed at the shell-shocked kitsune.

"Rumiko-san took care of me after mother died," Inuyasha informed the group, grinning. "Only two more people to show up, if that bastard decides to come after all." He mumbled the last moment, Kagome disapproving of his choice of language.

The sun dipped lower so that the full moon could be seen even brighter. With a crash of thunder and a 'moo,' Totosai arrived, riding Momo the bull.

"Inuyasha-sama!" the squeal was heard before Inuyasha slapped his nose, knocking the flea flat to float down into Inuyasha's waiting hand. "How dare you not invite me! And to your son's adoption ceremony as well! And with all that blood…"

"And that's why." Inuyasha drawled out, tossing Myoga to a waiting Totosai. "Hey old man."

"Humph, no respect from kids these days." Totosai slid off Momo, crossing his arms. Myoga appeared on his shoulder and nodded in agreement.

"I guess that's everyone then," Sango spoke up, stepping up to say her hello to the old sword smith.

"Nope, the bastard's not here yet." Inuyasha rolled his eyes and sat down on one of the pair of inner logs.

"Little brother, I would be more civilized when this Sesshoumaru is the one blessing this ritual." The stoic lord spoke up, walking up from the woods surrounding them. A moment later, Rin came running out of the bushes, laughing while the green imp known as Jaken yelled after her.

"Hello Rin, how are you doing?" Kagome asked, stopping the girl with her words. The former human grinned and waved before running from Jaken again.

Delicately, Sesshoumaru raised his nose and stiffed the air. He could smell the woman, Kagome's, scent. Sesshoumaru arched an eyebrow at Inuyasha and snorted lightly. Inuyasha caught the implications and stepped in front of Kagome. "This Sesshoumaru has no interest in a Hanyou bitch." Inuyasha growled softly and directed Kagome to sit down on the inner log that was across from him. The others took their cue and sat down on the outer logs, demons on one side and humans on the other. Momo and Kirara, in her large form, laid down behind their respective owners.

"Shippou, you ready?" Inuyasha asked softly, looking up at the moon through closed eyes. The kit nodded and sat as straight as he could on Kagome's lap. Inuyasha growled softly, taking a deep breath, and spread his arms to the moon. "Give me your strength…" Inuyasha murmured, opening his eyes to reveal a reddish tint that had invaded his gold.

Kagome's breath hitched, she could tell that Inuyasha was on _the edge_. The painted on stripes were obviously real now, as well as his fangs had lengthened considerably. "Inuya…" he silenced her with a simple look, the worry that she harbored instantly dissipated like the morning fog.

Bending over, Inuyasha retrieved a dish from the plain box and traced the intricate designs with a lengthened claw. "Hand," nothing more was said as Shippou held out one paw for Inuyasha to take. Inuyasha took the small appendage in his much larger hand and marveled briefly how much difference there was between the two. If he wasn't careful, his claw could easily sever the entire hand off, if not only a muscle or two.

He whimpered slightly, looking into Shippou's completely trusting eyes. Inuyasha kneaded his palm with the pad of his thumb to get the blood circulating. How could such tiny hands be able to hold onto something so strongly? Shippou gave a smile for his adoptive father and Inuyasha took a deep breath, making the shallow cut needed to begin the ritual.

The blood pooled quickly, shining a dark crimson—almost black—in the moonlight. Only the smallest of flinches told the story of the pain that Shippou felt in his hand as he watched his own blood trickle off the side of his palm and into the shallow dish. Kagome massaged Shippou's arm, hoping that it would increase the blood flow enough to get enough out before the wound closed completely.

The hairline cut sealed itself and stopped bleeding; the remainder of the viscous liquid was tipped into the dish. Now it was Shippou's turn to do Inuyasha's hand. The kit took Inuyasha's hand in his own paws, stopping to realize that the claws that he had would barely even scratch the surface of the skin, let alone make a single cut deep enough for it to bleed out the required amount.

Handing Kagome the bowl to hold, Inuyasha rubbed his own hand, particularly his fingertips, until they were red with blood. Gesturing Kagome to hold the bowl still, Inuyasha took Shippou's uninjured paw and started running his fingertips over Shippou's claws lightly. After a few times, Inuyasha pressed his fingertip onto Shippou's claws enough to make the slice on the delicate nails.

The tips were so red from blood from Inuyasha's rubbing that in only the few moments for the wounds to heal, Inuyasha's portion of the blood was donated to mix with the kits'. Inuyasha watched in wonder as the blood seemed to flow and separate, like oil on water, before slowly melding together into one red mass.

Taking the sake, Inuyasha looked at the top helplessly before handing it off to Kagome to fool with. Kagome gave a small smile and a half-laugh before taking a claw to the wrapper that ensured that the screw-off lid stayed put on the bottle. After taking care of the nuisance, Kagome handed the now-open bottle back to Inuyasha, who eyed the amount of sake pouring into the dish before setting the bottle down beside him. He then took a claw—the one used to cut Shippou—and used it to mix the potion into what looked like red wine.

Taking a sip of the potent brew, Inuyasha barely concealed a sour grimace. To put it bluntly, it tasted like a dirty penny or another type of copper. Inuyasha nodded to himself, it tasted almost exactly how Sesshoumaru described it. And the sake was just to cover the taste mostly, as well to make it go down easier. Like it helped.

"Don't forget to drink it all, Shippou." Inuyasha reminded, helping Shippou to hold the dish to drink from. Shippou coughed and sputtered when the liquid hit his lips. The concoction tasted even worse than Kagome's bright red stick in a tube! (Lipstick) Inuyasha pulled the dish away until Shippou stopped coughing.

"Yes, you have to drink it." Inuyasha reminded, not letting Shippou's helpless look fool him. Kagome smiled sympathetically and gave the kit a small hug.

"It's not that bad Shippou-kun!" Rin said, giving a small smile.

Shippou smiled back. If a human could do it, he could too! Steeling himself, Shippou took the bowl and downed it as fast as he could, still choking slightly. Kagome smiled lightly and rubbed Shippou's back.

"Aww, how touching." The wind started to blow, announcing the wind witch, Kagura's, entrance.

Inuyasha stood up and snarled, "what are you doing here!"

"Touchy, touchy." Kagura opened and closed her fan with a small click, "I just wanted to congratulate you on your new… addition," she sneered, looking at the half-asleep kit and the female hanyou holding him.

Inuyasha moved so that he was shading the two from Kagura's sight. "What do you want, witch?"

Kagura sighed in mock impatience and brought her fan up, "why must you ruin my fun? Dance of Blades!" she brought her fan down and solid blades of wind twirled around the clearing, making it so that everyone had to dodge at least one. "If you must know," Inuyasha retaliated by sending a Sankon Tessou toward her, "Naraku sent me to invite you to his castle..."

Inuyasha snarled and drew out his sward, transforming it into the fang. "Kaze no Kizu!" the claw marks of the attack burst along the ground, hitting the wind witch across her fan arm. With a small gasp, she grabbed the feather in her hair and took off with it. She delivered the message, but she didn't need to die for it!

* * *

A black claw tapped the polished silver. "Good, this'll make it even more interesting. Don't you think so also Kanna?" the white girl did nothing but hold her mirror that still held the image of the hanyou family.

* * *

Sorry for taking so long. I don't have any excuse but my own lazy imagination not having any inspirational juices to make the inspiration-driven hydraulics of my fingers to actually go. There, Naraku enters the scene after… 30 chapters. I think it's about time I had an actual villain in here! Don't worry, I'll hopefully have my new chapter up sooner. And thank you for those people that actually had the gall to write up their longest review ever just to yell at me to get off my lazy butt and do something!

Also, I have an actual web site now (that's dreadfully pathetic for the time being…) and if you have any suggestions for that, please tell me.

Later, Dark (Long note, ne?)


	31. A New Journey

Blah. Yeah, I know that it's been a couple months. I've been suffering from 'senioritis' and making my prom dress. Well, you know I don't own Inuyasha by now, or at least you should.

Now on to the next chapter!

Chapter 31: A New Journey

Last time: Inuyasha snarled and drew out his sword, transforming it into the fang. "Kaze no Kizu!" the claw marks of the attack burst along the ground, hitting the wind witch across her fan arm. With a small gasp, she grabbed the feather in her hair and took off with it. She delivered the message, but she didn't need to die for it!

This time: "we have to follow her!" Inuyasha growled out, not bothering to sheathe his sword before starting to run after the fleeing sorceress.

"Inuyasha, stop!" Kagome managed to grab a sleeve and plant herself in front of the hanyou. "We can't just follow her blindly!"

"Yes we can! We'll lose Naraku's scent if we wait!"

"Then at least let me say goodbye to Momma and pick up supplies first!" Inuyasha closed his eyes and hugged Kagome loosely, setting his chin between her flattened ears.

He took a calm breath before trusting himself to speak. "One week." He pulled his claws through her hair gently, "we may not get back, so one week should be plenty of time." Without speaking, Inuyasha looked over to Sesshoumaru, who nodded and turned into the forest.

"I shall speak with my generals. Come, Rin." The child grinned and gave Kagome a tight hug before running after her father. Jaken squawked and ran after the two, muttering something about human-blooded weaknesses.

Rumiko walked up to Inuyasha next and stroked his face gently, "this old bird can no longer fight, but my spirit shall stay with you to the end."

"Thank you Rumiko," Inuyasha lifted his chin slightly and gave her a small smile. Last was Totosai, who stood beside Momo.

"The dagger. I would practice that if I were you." He gestured before jumping onto Momo and taking off. Kagome nodded, fingering the jeweled hilt.

"I guess I'm going now—"

"Not without me, you're not." Inuyasha stepped between Kagome and the well.

"But what about Ship—"

"That damn monk's been looking after the runt for this long, he can do it for a couple more days." Kagome fell silent and held the sleeping kitsune closer. Inuyasha gestured for him and gave a half-smile, "he's coming with us when we get back, so you're not going to miss each other that much while he's still out." He brushed Shippou's bangs away gently before setting him in Sango's arms.

Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's upper arm before pulling her to the well, "C'mon, lets get this over with; the sooner, the better." And before she could object, Inuyasha had jumped into the well with Kagome.

* * *

"Have I told you thank you?"

"For what?" Inuyasha asked, pulling at tight spots on his T-shirt while lounging on Kagome's bed.

"For being you." Kagome swiveled around in her desk chair and smiled sweetly. "…Momma told me something that I might have to do here before we go back." she fidgeted, grabbing a forelock of hair and starting to braid it.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes over to Kagome and flicked his ears in annoyance. "Another test or something?"

"No, not a test… I think… well, my cousin's been visiting the past couple of days and… well, he wanted to talk to me and all…"

"What's the bastard want?"

"No, no, it's not really something he wants…" Kagome's attention drifted to a spider web in the corner, "more like a job that he has…"

* * *

"Auntie Gin…" the others hadn't noticed—yet—but Yusuke wasn't in the yard with the others 'checking out the grounds.' "Do you know when Kag-ko is going to come back?"

Gin shrugged and sat down some onigiri on the coffee table. "I can't tell exactly Yus-chan," he scowled slightly at the term of endearment, "but it's been about a month. She'll probably show up by next week with Inuyasha in tow. Those two are so cute together!"

"Auntie Gin!" Yusuke groaned, taking another bite of the rice ball.

"But it's true!" he smashed his hands to his ears, not wanting to hear about the mushy stuff. Gin smiled in a motherly way. "I'll tell Kagome to stay around when she shows up so you two can catch up, how's that sound?"

Yusuke hesitated, "Actually… my job… my boss wants me to bring in the keeper of the Shikon to see if _he's_ good enough to be trusted. This isn't exactly a fun visit…"

"I understand. Kagome's a big girl and she can take care of it. And besides, you'll be there also, correct?"

Yusuke fidgeted from foot to foot and looked out the front window. "I don't know if I'll be able to or not, but I'll try." Gin smiled reassuringly and patted his arm.

"I think your friends noticed your absence…" Yusuke stood up and kissed Gin's cheek, swiping two onigiri in the process. Gin shook her head and waved, noting that one of the treats had made its way to Kuwabara's hand as they were leaving the grounds with the others.

* * *

Kagome looked out the small window that her seat was against. It had been several hours, about a day at least, since the scenery had changed. Clouds, clouds, and more clouds. The attendants had suggested that sleeping would make the trip go faster, or at least seem to, but her ears were anything but enjoying the internal pressure of the cabin.

And what was worse, the person that she was stuck with snored. Not only were her poor ears abused by having to be pinned down by a bandanna by the past day, but she had been woken up at midnight by her mother to pack for this 'planned' trip that she had absolutely _no clue_ about until right before.

"_Kagome get up." her mother's voice floated into her dream world. But… it wasn't her mother's voice. The patterns were all wrong and Gin never called her daughter 'Kagome'. It was always Kagome-chan or Dear, never Kagome. She opened her eyes to see Gin hovering over her, holding up a large suitcase. "Hurry up or you'll miss your flight. Your aunt wants you to visit as soon as possible." _

_There was something wrong there, Kagome thought, but she didn't bring it up while she hurriedly packed. Was something wrong with Yusuke? Was he sick, did he get injured? _

_No, it wasn't something like that, Yusuke had been injured plenty of times and she was never called over. And why was she packing clothes in the large suitcase if she was only going across town. Nothing made any sense and with the way that Gin was rushing her daughter, there was no way to warn Inuyasha that she was leaving. He'd gone across the well for the night to continue preparations and to check in on Shippou's health after the ceremony._

_Kagome looked at her mother. There it was: what was so strange. Gin wasn't blinking, not even once since she had woken Kagome up. And her posture was completely stiff, like she was being controlled or possessed. But something like that didn't happen in this time, right? "Okaa-san…?"_

"_Hurry up Kagome. You will be late."_

"_Okaa-san, what's the matter?" Kagome asked, tilting her head and walking toward her mother._

"_Hurry up Kagome, you will be late." Gin spoke again in a monotone voice, not moving anything but her mouth. _

"_You're scaring me Okaa…"_

"_Hurry up Kagome, you will be late." This time her eyes moved to lock with Kagome's and she shrunk back to her packing. Gin did not move until Kagome zipped up her bag, and then only moved to grab it and throw it into the back seat of the car while Kagome shifted uncomfortably in the front passenger._

Kagome shuddered from the memory, but what had set her mother off like that?

"Excuse me miss," the steward asked in broken Japanese, "but would you like a blanket or pillow?" Kagome shook her head and turned back to the window.

_This wasn't the way to Yusuke's house. "Okaa-san, where are we going?"_

"_You are going to your Aunt's house. You are going to miss your flight."_

"_Flight? Where are we going?" Kagome asked, wondering how to get out of the car to get back to Inuyasha. The car hadn't stopped once since Gin had started it up and gotten onto the actual streets. It seemed like every stop sign, every stoplight was in Gin's favor to continue. _

"_You are going to your Aunt's house. You are going to miss your flight."_

"_But Aunt Atsuko is only on the other side of town; we're going the wrong way!" Gin knew the way to Atsuko and Yusuke's house by heart, and so did Kagome, and _this was not it!_ Kagome couldn't do anything but look out the window, visually memorizing the way back in case she could escape the person that was shadowing her mother._

"This is your captain speaking. We are about thirty minutes away fromHeathro International Airport and will be beginning out decent momentarily. Please secure your seatbelts and place your trays and seats in the upright and locked positions. Thank you for flying Air Japan." Kagome sighed and tugged on her seatbelt, making sure that it was still 'secure.'

"_Nonstop flight to London, England now boarding." The overhead called. Kagome looked up in shock. London? Why was mother sending her to London of all places? And right before what would likely be the final battle also! This made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why was she being forced into a vacation that she had no say over when her pack mates needed her the most. They could be killed without her there! And what about Shippou and Inuyasha?_

_Gin ushered her to the gate and gave the attendant her ticket and passport. The man looked at the items and nodded. "Welcome aboard Higurashi-san. I hope you enjoy the flight." it was too late now, she was caught up in the flow of the passengers getting on and she couldn't use her hanyou strength without revealing herself to the human masses._

_Looking back, Kagome saw Gin shake her head, as if she had just come out of a day dream, and look around. 'Where am I' she mouthed as she looked around. Gin shrugged, seeing no reason to why she was there and left, leaving Kagome no choice but to fly to England._

Now that she thought of it, she remembered that when she was very little, Gin took her to England to see someone. Dredging up those memories, Kagome remembered that she had moved there from Japan several years before Kagome was even born to live with her English-speaking husband. Her husband died, but she stayed because she loved the countryside and didn't think that she would be accepted back into the Japanese culture after living in England for so long. If Kagome remembered right, she had even changed her name to an English name. Natasha or something like that.

The plane was now taxiing toward the gates to let the passengers out and now Kagome only had to find out what would happen next in this strange new adventure.

* * *

Inuyasha pushed open the bedroom window to wake Kagome up for the day and was shocked to find that not only wasn't Kagome there, but her scent was at least a few hours old.

"Where's Kagome?" he asked, startling Gin as she opened her daughter's door to put some fresh laundry in the dresser.

"What do you mean; I thought she was with you." Inuyasha shook his head and looked around the room. It looked like there was nothing wrong, but a few articles of clothing strewn around and the rest of it missing.

"I left to check on the pack last night when she fell asleep."

"Then maybe she's on the other side of the well already?" Gin supplied, crinkling her eyebrows at the lack of Kagome's clothing in the closet. She always had clothes here even when she was traveling.

Inuyasha shook his head. "If she was there, I would have smelled it. She hasn't been near the well since we got back last night."

"Now that I think of it, I woke up in the most peculiar place this morning. I thought that I had sleepwalked again, but I must have taken Kagome to the airport this morning. Strange though, I don't remember why I would do such a thing though…" Gin shrugged and continued to put away her daughter's clothes. "Kagome's a big girl. She'll call or E-mail when she gets the chance to. And then we'll know where she went. Do you want any breakfast Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha looked on mutely, wondering where Kagome went and hoped that she could defend herself if she did get into any trouble, which she undoubtedly would. At one time, Kagome had shown Inuyasha the use of the phone, but this 'eah-male', whatever it was, he had no clue what it was. All he could do now was watch and wait.

* * *

Heya, sorry for the long wait. I know, I know, I have no right to even attempt an excuse, but here's my try anyway: I'm on summer vacation and in my notes, I found out that I actually skipped like 5 chapters. Sigh, I'm pathetic. This is the only time that I have notes for this story, and I can't even follow those correctly!

Now, you're all wondering why she's in England, right? Well… I like English mythology, particularly King Author and that stuff.

Later, Dark Inu Fan ("Don't hit me!" Cringes away from pitchforks and internet viruses)


	32. Churon

Disclaimer: Disclaimed.

I'm hoping that I get out before school starts on the 21st!

Chapter 32: Churon

Last time: Inuyasha looked on mutely, wondering where Kagome went and hoped that she could defend herself if she did get into any trouble, which she undoubtedly would. At one time, Kagome had shown Inuyasha the use of the phone, but this 'eah-male', whatever it was, he had no clue what it was. All he could do now was watch and wait.

This time: Kagome walked off the plane, seeing no purpose in staying in the claustrophobic contraption any longer. It wouldn't be like the subway, where she could ride until she came to the correct stop, or change cars to get there. It was one-way and nothing could stop that.

The crowds dispersed, the other passengers walking off tiredly after their long flight to find their relations and luggage. Kagome looked around, for all the good it did, and decided to try to follow the rest of the passengers. 'What now?' she thought, sighing and smoothing her bandanna over her cramped ears.

There! A sign in Japanese that was taped to something that looked like a picket pulled straight out of the ground. 'Higurashi.' Yep, that was her sign.

"Aunt Nat-"

"Hurry up, they are expecting you."

"Who?" Kagome managed to get out as the bleach-blonde Japanese woman grabbed her arm and started dragging her away. Natasha was much stronger than any normal human should be, and she had the same tones her mother had the previous day. "Where are you taking me!" Kagome asked in a panic, trying to free herself from the woman's grasp.

"Hurry up, they are expecting you." She repeated, dragging her past the luggage carousal, not even bothering to stop as Kagome's bag rode right past them. Kagome looked around and strangely, not a single person looked their way or tried to stop the kidnapping in progress. It was disturbingly similar to Gin's driving the way that there was nothing stopping or blocking their movements.

Outside the doors, Kagome's skin prickled, and it was not only the heavy fog that covered the ground. "Hurry up, they are expecting you." Kagome heard again as Natasha, or whoever this was, opened the back door of a wood-paneled Oldsmobile and threw her in. The world seemed trapped in silence as the car started and left the airport parking lot.

By the time Kagome had righted herself and buckled her belt, they had left London and was now traveling northward along the countryside. Once or twice Kagome tried to start up conversation, only to be met with the same 'they are expecting you' response. Sighing, Kagome stared out at the murky whiteness that was broken occasionally by a swath of green from the fields or trees. Who were 'they' and what did 'they' want? As far as she knew, only Aunt Natasha lived here… unless it was somehow a plot for Naraku to get her out of the picture! But that would mean that he knew about the well, and how to cross it. Her family was in danger! Mama, Grandpa, Souta!

"The one you call Naraku does not know about the well." What? Kagome's breathing slowed down slightly from slight hyperventilation. "They want to talk to you." And silence. Aunt Natasha's voice hadn't changed from what her voice was like earlier.

"How do you know about Naraku?"

"… They are expecting you…" was the only response, like a robot.

"Who are 'they'?" Kagome leaned forward to look into the rearview mirror at her aunt's eyes. They didn't move or blink either.

Kagome threw herself back into her seat with a groan. There was no way that she could escape now, even if she wanted to. She might as well get comfortable because she wouldn't be going anywhere soon if things were going the way that they had been. Kagome soon drifted off, only to be thrown from her seat in a sudden stop.

"Huh?" Kagome grunted, rubbing her head where it hit the glass.

"Get out." Natasha said mechanically.

"What?" Natasha didn't turn as she repeated her previous statement.

"Get out." The older woman's lifeless eyes turned to stare at Kagome through the rearview mirror. Kagome looked out the window, unsure which would be more hazardous: going out into the pea-soup fog, or staying with a controlled human that had already shown un-human strength. Taking a deep breath, Kagome decided she was better off in the fog. She had a nose, she could find human settlement if push came to shove… hopefully.

(o)

Inuyasha looked around the room in confusion. Why would Kagome leave, especially knowing that she only had a week in this time before the final battle. And with no way to get back to the feudal era without going though the well, there was no point in leaving this time period to just tell the others that he'd lost track of Kagome.

Gin finished putting away Kagome's clothes and straightening the room for her return. "Do you want any breakfast Inu-kun? I'm sure that wherever Kagome is, she'll contact us as soon as she can. So why don't you stop worrying so much and relax while you can, okay?" Inuyasha took another look around before nodding. At least Kagome took the shards with her, so they'd be safe from demons in this era at least.

Almost following Gin out the door, Inuyasha cringed slightly. It had become almost a courtesy rule in the house to dress appropriately in case visitors came to the shrine. Sighing, Inuyasha pivoted into the closet and went to where his clothes were. Surprisingly, he found an outfit that he had previously not seen before. It was the same bright red of his Fire-Rat haori, but it was the straight-leg and narrow-sleeve of a training Gi instead. Something that he was more accustomed to, Inuyasha chose to exchange his hakama for the narrower pants, and he kept his cream colored undershirt on instead of the stiff top.

In a passing moment, he looked into the mirror to make sure everything was straight. 'I look like a miko!' he thought in slight humor as he dug out a hairbrush, that Gin had insisted on getting one time, and a small black tie to pull his hair back in a 'modern' style. After brushing and tying back his hair with a red bandanna over top, he went down to breakfast.

Entering the kitchen, he saw only two places set. Intercepting his question, Gin patted a seat and gave a smile. "Grandpa is visiting one of his friends in the hospital, so it's only you and me this morning. Do you want anything-"

"Ra-"

"-aside from Ramen this morning?" Gin cut off, setting a 'small' bowl down in front of Inuyasha. Within a few moments, the Chinese-style noodles were gone. Gin shook her head in amusement, showing a small smile. "I'm having an omelet and some pickled vegetables, would you like any?"

"The yellow crunchy ones!" Inuyasha nodded enthusiastically, adding a please after a moments hesitation.

"Radish? Just don't eat too many or you'll get sick, okay?" Inuyasha blushed slightly and looked around.

"… When's the brat going to come back?" he asked, trying to sound indifferent.

Gin took a shaking breath and braced herself on either side of the kitchen sink, trying to stop the tears that started welling up in her eyes. 'Pull yourself together, it's not like Kagome's asked the same question' "I guess Kagome-chan doesn't talk about it too often, does she? Every summer Kashisu takes Souta for visitations. And brings him back just in time for school to start. You saw how well they get along, so I would suggest trying to avoid when they come back. You and Kagome visit often enough that I'll be able to warn you away before another encounter happens." Gin turned to the omelet that had started to smoke slightly.

Arms snaked around Gin from the back, surprising her greatly. "Kagome loves her brother, and we're going to make sure that he is not brainwashed to be prejudiced against youkai and hanyou." Gin nodded and smiled lightly.

"Don't tell me that you're attracted to me now, Inuyasha. Wouldn't want me to be accused of robbing the cradle now, would we?" Inuyasha wiped away a tear that had fallen down Gin's face and shrugged, stepping back.

"You're too young for me anyway." Inuyasha commented with a waved of the hand and put the uneaten pickled radish into the refrigerator.

"So what's Kagome?" Gin asked back playfully.

"A pup. My pup-mate." He shrugged, remembering perceptions were different. "Kagome's mine, I don't care how old she is compared to me. She grew up human, so she's mature enough to mate."

Gin nodded in agreement and sat down with her own breakfast. "Are you going to stay here today? Kagome's cousin is going to get here in a little while and Kagome would like for you to meet."

"…no point in going back right now. I could stay here for a while; I'll be in the tree." Inuyasha commented neutrally. He was in no real hurry to meet this 'Yusuke' person that Kagome had only commented about passing the previous night. On the other hand, he wasn't too fond of the Monk's staff and/or Hiraikotsu aimed for his head. Figuring the lesser of the two evils, he highly doubted that anyone would notice him in the Goshinboku anyway.

(o)

Looking around, it was a blanket of fog, just like her spirit plane that Miroku had taken her to once. "Okay, where am I?" as if someone had heard her, the fog bank thinned enough to see the shadowed outline of a hill in the distance. Kagome stepped forward in curiosity, but the hill never seemed to come any closer. Turning back, kagome gasped. Where her aunt's car was only moments ago, was a blanket of impenetrable white. The gooseflesh on her arms came back with a vengeance as kagome rubbed her suddenly-cold arms.

"Hello?" she called out, not expecting to get a response.

"What do you want?" came a craggy voice from up ahead in the fog. Or was it behind her?

Kagome didn't know what to say as she looked around for a body to accompany the voice. The fog had completely surrounded her again, to the point where she could no longer even see her feet.

"Are you stupid? I asked what do you want?" Kagome jumped, the voice was directly in front of her. The fog thinned enough to see a very thin, tall person standing practically over her.

"I…I…"

The voice growled. Kagome jumped back in surprise, putting her hand to her heart in shock. Squich. Kagome looked down, did she step on something? At her feet, water swelled and ebbed with small waves. Looking up again, the tall person, a man she could see now, was really standing on the stern of a small barge that was floating in the water that Kagome was almost positive wasn't there before.

"I want to go back home!" kagome yelled it out, she was certain that this was all a bad dream by now.

"Don't we all," The man rolled his eyes, "we've got ourselves another lost mortal here." He mumbled to himself, poling the barge closer. "Come on and grab my hand, you'll just get lost otherwise." Kagome nodded mutely and stepped into the barge, sitting down on one of the simple benches inside. Kagome hugged herself, looking around in curiosity. She couldn't smell anything and she hadn't noticed how much she had started to rely on her demonic senses. 'This must be what Inuyasha feels like on his human night,' she mused.

"Name's Churon. Don't talk to me and I might just let you get back to the land of the living. Got it?" Kagome nodded hurriedly and eyed her host. He was indeed skinny, practically skin and bones, and only wore a loin-cloth that was dyed black. He also wore a set of chains loosely wrapped around his torso an shoulders.

"It's for the uncooperative spirits," Churon commented, not turning away from where he was poling the barge. "Willingly or not, I get people across Styx when they die."

"…!"

"No, you're not dead, just lost. Now stop thinking so loudly and sit still!" he growled out, shaking his chains as a threat. Kagome nodded her head furiously and looked out to the white expanse, with only the gray water beyond the boat.

After a moment, Churon sighed and slumped slightly, letting the barge drift downriver (of which kagome couldn't see the sides whatsoever) while he sat down opposite Kagome. "Sorry," he bit out, "I'm tired. I've been doing this for over 2,000 years and it gets old after a while. You're not exactly human either, so you might understand what I'm talking about after a while. You're not human, but you're still a youngster, how old are you anyway?" Churon placed his bony fingers on her cheek and Kagome tried not to shudder.

"S-sixteen… sir." At that, Churon burst out laughing.

"'Sir'? I haven't had anyone call me that in decades!" Kagome looked up; Churon's face was more like a skull than a living thing. He was pale as paper with his eyes sunk in so far, that they looked like black voids. His hair, what there was of it, was scraggily and stringy. Altogether, he was an intimidating sight.

At her stare, Churon looked down at himself, "what? Not much to look at, huh? Do you know how heavy that black robe is when it gets wet? And beside, I left that on shore, so you can't complain about my looks!"

Kagome looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry, I'm not really used to being around other ushers."

"Where are you from, girl?" he asked, looking at her Asian features.

"Japan. And my name's Ka-go-me, not girl."

"Well, Ka. Go. Me. You're a long way from home. What brought you this way?"

Kagome furrowed her eyebrows, "I don't really know. My mom and aunt were possessed and all that I found out is that 'they are expecting me'."

Churon nodded his head. "So you're the one. _They_ told me to watch out for you, but I didn't think that you'd be so… _young_." He struggled for the appropriate word, holding his hands palm-up in a helpless gesture.

"Who are 'they'?" Kagome asked, getting a vague sense of Déjà vu.

"'they' are the All-Powerful. The Gods among Gods. The Crème de la Crème!"

"The what?" Kagome asked dryly.

"The Top Dogs. The Ultimate. The Creators. The All and One."

Kagome sighed. So, apparently, this was a very important guy; or guys.

"It's got to be bad if they're calling you. What did you do?" can you say mood-swing much? One minute, he was all like 'I'm gonna kill you' and the next, he's someone's annoying little brother!

Kagome shrugged. "If I knew, why would I tell you?"

Churon shrugged right back. "Good question." He stood up and looked around, "and besides, we're almost there anyway." Taking up his pole, he maneuvered the barge into some reeds and away from the main pull of the stream. There was a quiet thump and Churon reached out for a handle along the dock.

"Watch your step and don't look anyone directly in the face, got it?" he commented as he helped Kagome up onto the floating dock.

As Churon pulled away, kagome turned to ask one final question: "how do you get back upstream with that much of a current?"

"What do you mean upstream? Styx goes in a giant circle and you're the one on an island. Bye!" Churon called back, waving before the fog swallowed up his presence.

An island? Kagome sighed and turned toward the boardwalk that would lead her to, hopefully, solid ground. As if her nerves weren't enough already, she was alone with no way to escape yet again. What fate did 'they' have in store once she finally met them?

(o)

Not too bad of a chapter, but I hope that I'll be able to understand soon, cause I'm just as confused as everyone else right now. Possess-ed fingers, beware! I have a new computer, so I'm still trying to figure out how everything works. Bye for now, dark.

Oh, and if you're wondering, Churon (or Huron) is the Ferrier of the river Styx to Hades. It'll all make sense later.


	33. Avalon

School's started, I have a 3-day weekend, and I'm hoping to get this done in…5 hours. Totally and highly improbable, but I'll try.

Chapter 33: Avalon

Last time: An island? Kagome sighed and turned toward the boardwalk that would lead her to, hopefully, solid ground. As if her nerves weren't enough already, she was alone with no way to escape yet again. What fate did 'they' have in store once she finally met them?

Taking a deep breath, Kagome stepped forward hesitantly, almost expecting something to grab her ankle or something. After a few steps, she let out her breath and it seemed to clear the fog also. What was revealed beyond was not what she expected: her own home. A smile split her face as she ran forward, almost tripping on a loose stone. Skipping slightly, she looked down at what she had tripped over in curiosity and screamed in horror.

A body.

A body she knew.

Covered in blood and mangled to almost beyond comprehension…

(o)

It was slightly damp that morning. And with that, came the rare strain that was Kurama's vanity. He looked into the mirror with a frown marring his features. The humidity in the air was doing murder to his hair and instead of looking like a red main, was looking like a reddish cotton-ball like when he was a child before his thievery career. Short of doing some serious straightening for his hair, it was unbearably unruly. With a sigh, he dug out a dark blue scrunchie that he had bought 'for his girlfriend' several years ago when his hair was still short…er. One high ponytail and matching dark blue and tan outfit that reminded him of his childhood clothing later, he headed out the door to meet the others at the train station to go back to the shrine that they had been repeatedly going to. Suspiciously enough, Kuwabara agreed that this was the shrine that they were looking for and not to search any more.

"You're late!" Yusuke yelled, watching the train that they usually took leave. Kurama shrugged apologetically and Yusuke passed it off with a roll of his eyes and a comment about 'pretty-boys and their looks.' Kurama smirked internally at that. Looking around, he saw that Yusuke was gleaning just as much, if not more, attention from the female populous at the station.

"C'mon, the next train leaves in 15." Yusuke stalked off, unaware of the long-lashed eyes following his every move, giggling in girlish admiration.

Despite the fog, it promised to be a nice day out.

(o)

"Kagome! Kagome, wake up!" ice-cold water splashed on the hanyou's face and she sat up, sputtering. She opened her eyes and only the white of a bright light met her. Hissing, she closed her eyes and curled up into a protective ball.

"B-Bl-bloo… S-s-ta. Blood everywhere." Kagome cracked her eyes open, staring at her claws though the slits. In the deep-contrast shadows thrown by the harsh light overhead, the tips looked like they had a darkened substance on them. Panicking, she dry-washed her hands, cutting and scratching them in the process until blood indeed covered them. Almost immediately, a new set of arms stretched around her back, pinning her upper arms while a third set grabbed her hands, holding them so that the claws could do no more damage.

"Shh, shh, it's okay Miss Kagome. There's no blood anywhere." A soothing voice spoke up from behind her ears, supposedly connected to the arms that were now rocking her gently. Kagome struggled briefly before giving up. In the way that she was being pinned by four arms, there was no chance to escape. And there was no telling how many arms were still in the area.

Closing her eyes, she went limp.

"See what you did Callisto! You made her faint again! Tatiana isn't gonna be too happy about this!" the one named Callisto broke into sobs, soaking the back of Kagome's robes from where she held the unconscious girl. Kagome grimaced internally. She was pretending to be asleep so they would leave her alone, not soak her with tears! Now she knew why Inuyasha didn't like to smell tears so much, the salt in them stung her nose. The girl that spoke pulled on Kagome's hands, sticking them into a bowl of cold water that stung of herbs. She bit back a hiss as the girl spoke again as she started scrubbing the blood off non-too-gently.

"This is always your fault! You were born clumsy and I'm surprised that you've even lasted this long as an apprentice even!"

"But Eos, she's had a hard time already! Think of how far away from home she is. Let's let her rest after you bandage her hands, okay? And Tatiana won't even notice with Oberon hovering over her this entire time. We'll have to wait until our lord has left before presenting Lady Kagome to our lady."

"No bother bandaging her hands. They have healed already." A third voice spoke up. Kagome's hands were taken into gentler hands and rubbed gently with a soothing balm. "Kagome-dear, my name is Ceres. I know that you're awake, so why don't you open your eyes? The girls and I won't harm you, okay?"

Kagome whimpered slightly and curled up further, trying to 'hide' from the arms that still pinned her still. Ceres must have gestured something, because a moment later, the two arms were gently removed, as well as the body warmth that belonged to it. Opening her eyes slightly, Kagome noticed that the harsh overhead light had been moved and dimmed.

"There, that's better, isn't it?" Ceres asked in her motherly tone, seeing Kagome's eyes.

"Bl-"

"Is that what you saw when you got off of dear Churon's skiff? With what I've heard of the life you lead, blood should be an everyday occurrence…"

Kagome shook her head, "Souta's blood. The body… the body that I tripped over was Souta's."

Ceres nodded calmly, like she was reassuring a small child. "Is that what you're afraid of? Your brother getting hurt somehow?" Kagome looked away in shame, "or is it that you would hurt him?"

"I never meant to. We were just rough-housing like we usually did. I knew that I was stronger, but I didn't stop until… until I broke his arm. What if it's his neck next time!" Kagome nearly shouted, sitting up and taking her hands away to wrap around her knees.

"Is that what you fear most? Then we'll help you learn to control your strength then. Your brother is stronger than you give him credit for, both in mind and spirit."

"How do you know?" Kagome asked mulishly, resting her cheek on her knees and refusing to look anyone in the face.

"I know more than you would believe at this time. I'm what some would call a goddess, but I am a normal person as much as you or any other girl can be." Ceres continued in her serene voice. Kagome looked at her out of the corner of her eye and smiled slightly at what she saw. Ceres was not a young girl in neutral-colored robes like the other two, but what one would think of as a true mother-figure. She was slightly round and had a few straying hairs that were gray that weren't quite caught up into her loose braided bun. Although her dress was in earth tones, it would still stand out as unique. It had a brown bodice like chestnuts or a tree trunk, with jewel-green sleeves and a mix of auburn and other fall colors in the skirt, making it look more like a pile of leaves. Ceres stood up, showing that, indeed, the skirt was made of fall leaves that were sewn together, but as pliable as if they were still green on the tree.

"It must have been a long trip dear, how about some tea and stew before we get you into some more appropriate attire, is that alright?" Kagome nodded. How could she disagree with such a person that reminded her of her own mother?

(o)

Natasha looked around. When did she leave the farmers market? And why was she at Stone Hedge? She shrugged, got into her car, and drove back home, since that was where she was _obviously_ going in the first place since the market was most likely over by now.

(o)

Inuyasha cracked open an eyelid to look around. The scent around the grounds had changed to include scents that were most definitely not part of the Higurashi family. All demons. No, wait; there was a human among the demons… and… two hanyou? That wasn't right. Was the one with the long reddish hair hanyou or human? Inuyasha sat up slightly and watched the front door as it swung open, revealing Gin.

"Welcome back to our humble shrine," Gin bowed to the group and only the Red-headed one actually bowed back. "I hope that you find what you are looking for this time." Inuyasha's eyes traveled to scan the new group and were met with angry red eyes and a set of cool green ones. The one with red eyes seemed to evaporate from existence, re-appearing on the same branch as Inuyasha sat on.

"Problem?" Inuyasha asked, taking the small demon in black as no real threat.

"Go back to where you came from, hanyou." The 'boy' spoke coldly, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Inuyasha sat up and stretched, "and what do you plan on doing if I don't?" the boy growled and drew his sword, rushing forward with the intent of severing the hanyou's head from his body.

"Hiei stop!" a calm voice from the base of the tree demanded. Amazingly, the boy in black stopped his swing mere millimeters from its intended target and scoffed. Sheathing his sword, the boy now known as Hiei jumped from the branch and landed next to the person who spoke from below.

"I apologize for my friend. He has a tendency to strike first and ask questions later." The redhead bowed his head slightly in Inuyasha's direction.

'_Sounds like someone else I know…_' Inuyasha thought as he jumped down from his perch, now that his position had been discovered.

Inuyasha landed in front of the hanyou/human and the redhead bowed deeper in introduction. "My name is Suiichi Minamoto. My friends call me Kurama though." Catching a whiff of the boy's underlying scent, Inuyasha's eyes widened momentarily.

"Cut the crap Shippou. What did you do this time?" the boy shook, startled.

"Inuyasha? I haven't seen you in years!"

"I saw you last night as a pup, so it hasn't been that long." Inuyasha grumbled, holding his hands within his sleeves.

Kurama looked excited, but reined it in quickly, "after Kagome… I shouldn't really tell you, should I?... well, I haven't seen you in years nonetheless. It's good to see you again inu-papa!" Inuyasha froze. What did he mean by 'inu-papa'? Shippou was just a pack orphan that he…adopted…oh.

"That only happened two days ago, pup. I'm not as old as you think I am right now." Kurama/Shippou nodded in understanding. A black-haired boy came jogging up behind Kurama.

"What's happening? Did you find something out?"

"And this is my teammate, Yusuke. Yusuke, this is an old friend of mine: Inuyasha."

The boy, Yusuke, started at the name. "Inuyasha! Where's Kagome you punk?" Yusuke snarled, grabbing the front of Inuyasha's hadagi (undershirt).

"I should be asking you the same thing, pup!" Inuyasha growled back, grabbing Yusuke's T-shirt in his fist.

"Boys, this isn't getting anywhere," Kurama tried to separate the two hanyou, "Kagome is not here and neither of you know where she is. We shouldn't fight over what we don't know about."

"Can it Shippou! This punk knows something, I can smell it!"

Yusuke's tough façade cracked as he looked over at Kurama with a grin. "Shippou eh? Kag's told me about what you were like when you were younger, oh-so-powerful thief." Yusuke let go of Inuyasha's shirt and pulled away to face the taller boy. "And to think, you had no clue why we were here all week. Your brain's gotten senile in your age." Kurama took a half-hearted swipe that Yusuke easily dodged.

"Yes, I did forget. After… what happened… I tried to forget about the Shikon."

"What happened, Shippou?" Inuyasha practically breathed down the kitsune's neck.

"You see… you wouldn't want me to tell you. We've already messed up the time stream by me coming here…"

"What happened to Kagome, damnit!" Inuyasha grabbed Kurama's shoulders, a look of desperation in his eyes.

Choking up, Kurama looked anywhere but the distraught hanyou as he was shaken. "I would tell you if I knew. All I know is that she'll disappear sometime after she fights. I can't remember how long though. I'm sorry." Kurama looked down and teleported in a puff of smoke to the shrine's Torii gates. "If I could help you, I would…" with that, Kurama turned and left.

Sometime during the arguments, Hiei had disappeared also.

"So, they figured it out, huh?" the human with orange hair walked to the bench in front of the Goshinboku and sat down.

"Yeah Kuwabara, they did." The one called Kuwabara nodded his head and turned to Inuyasha.

"I knew Kagome when we were really little. Yusuke, Kagome and I have a bit of a history together, so we'll wait for her with you. No telling how long it'll be until she shows up again…" Inuyasha snorted at Kuwabara's outstretched hand and jumped back into the tree, intent on waiting it out there. "Friendly, huh?"

(o)

Yes, I pulled out my Greek/Roman mythology book for today's names! Ceres is more commonly called Demeter and is the goddess of the fields and mother to Persephone. Legend goes that Hades captured Persephone and while she was down there, Demeter mourned and the fields died and that's why there's the fall and winter. Callisto is a very timid nymph and Eos is a very strong-willed nymph. Tatiana and Oberon are the king and queen of Celtic British mythology and had a lot of marital issues that come into play later. Shakespeare's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ is where you might recognize those two names.

Not bad, I finished this in about 4 hours. Usually it takes like a week! Sorry if it seems short, but I need it to work out my next chapter!

Later,

Dark


	34. the Lizard of Oz

Nor Inuyasha or The Wizard of Oz belongs to me. There, disclaimed.

Chapter 34: the Lizard of Oz!

Last time: "I knew Kagome when we were really little. Yusuke, Kagome and I have a bit of a history together, so we'll wait for her with you. No telling how long it'll be until she shows up again…" Inuyasha snorted at Kuwabara's outstretched hand and jumped back into the tree, intent on waiting it out there. "Friendly, huh?"

This time: soon after the two demons left, Yusuke stretched and went into the house. After waiting for a few more minutes, Kuwabara stretched out on the bench and closed his eyes, whistling a tune he had heard on the radio the previous night. "Man, I shoulda packed some books if I woulda known that I'd be stuck waiting around here all day!" Kuwabara mumbled before sitting up and following Yusuke into the house to grab something to eat and to play on Souta's game cube in the living room.

Inuyasha scoffed at the 'soft human' and got comfortable in his tree branch. His ears swiveled like miniature radars, which was the only way that anyone could tell that he was awake.

* * *

Inuyasha started, waking from his partial slumber, and looked around. By the position of the sun, he could tell that it was mid-late afternoon. He must have dozed off sometime during the day. Taking a sniff of the air, Inuyasha scoffed. Those two were still there. Looking around, he noticed that a heavy fog was rolling in, unnaturally thick for this time of year and place. The opposite end of the shrine was quickly being obscured from view, replaced with a white and gray wall. 

A few moments later, the two boys rushed out, looking like they were ready to fight. The black-haired boy, Yusuke, was facing the wall of fog, pointing at it in a defensive manner. The taller one, orange-haired Kuwabara, had a more reasonable weapon of an orange glowing sword in his hand, poised to attack anything in front of him.

"Hey, do you know anything about this?" Yusuke asked, more like yelled, at the hanyou in the tree.

"No, you're the one that lives in this time!" Inuyasha yelled back, jumping from the Goshinboku and taking out his sword... rusty. "What the hell?" Inuyasha shook it several times, trying to get it to transform into the fang. Growling lowly as an artificial wind picked up, Inuyasha jammed the sword back into the saya (sheath) and poised his claws to strike.

One of the gray blobs started to move and take shape. By the way it was moving, it was heading toward them at a moderate pace, taking its time. A stream of the fog blew by, revealing black hair that belonged to the body that was still moving. As another piece of fog fell into place, obscuring their view partially, the person stopped as they heard a gasp seem to surround them.

"Inuyasha!" a feminine call came; the shrouded figure flitted out of view, only to be seen running towards them.

"Freeze!" Yusuke yelled, pointing in the figure's, now they could see that it was a woman, direction. The woman ignored Yusuke's yell as she jumped at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha froze in confusion. What was happening? Why was some strange woman _touching_ him? Taking a small sniff, Inuyasha's hands went around the woman's tiny waist. "Kagome, where were you?" he asked, resting his chin on the crown of her head.

"Kagome?" Yusuke asked, bringing his hand down to lie limp at his side. Bringing a hand up, Inuyasha closed his eyes and stroked her hair in her temple region. Idly, he traced her outer ear before gasping slightly.

"What happened to you?" he nearly demanded, pulling kagome away so he could see her face and human features. Not only did she look human, but she had strange clothes on, the likes that he had never even seen on demons from the continent.

"Kagome!" Yusuke yelled excitedly, trying to get around to see her face also. Giving up on her face, Yusuke just went in to hug her from the back, but Inuyasha pulled her away and up into the tree first.

Kagome smiled gently and traced Inuyasha's ears before responding to her questions. "I learned things." She brought her hands down to where his ears were on his human nights. "I learned things that can help us." She traced where his human ears would be and they appeared, as if they belonged there. Inuyasha looked at her confused, hearing with his now non-existent hanyou ears, but feeling his tangible human ears. Inuyasha brought up a hand to feel both places and his eyes widened. Kagome smiled and brought one of his rough hands to her smooth cheek and human ear. Almost instantly, it seemed to melt and migrate to where her hanyou ears were normally, and Inuyasha felt the same happen to his.

"Kitsune magic." Kagome shook her head and smiled, leaping off the branch.

"No, much more powerful than that, real magic." Kagome said after she landed, looking at Inuyasha with a grin on her face. Turning to Yusuke, she leapt into his arms and squealed, "Yus-kun!"

"Kags!" Yusuke called back just as enthusiastically, spinning her around in circles.

"And Kazu-kun!" kagome reached out and hugged the carrot-top enthusiastically. "It's been so long! I didn't think that you remembered me!" Inuyasha jumped down from the branch also, dragging kagome away from the human and other hanyou and into his protective arms.

"Mine." He growled, eyeing the other males. Kagome nodded and leaned back, relaxing in his protective embrace.

"It's been so long…" she murmured, turning her head to rub her cheek into his chest.

"I only saw you last night, it wasn't that long." Inuyasha responded and kagome stiffened.

"Last night? I've been gone only a day? So they weren't lying…" Kagome trailed off, muttering under her breath something about time rips and inter-dimensional travel.

"What are you talking about Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, stroking her ear so she would calm down.

Kagome sighed before answering, purring slightly at the attention. "It seemed so long for me: I saw summer, fall, winter and spring there. They said that I stayed there for a year, but that I shouldn't worry." Kagome turned, digging her petite claws into his undershirt and her face into the folds, using her sense of smell to reassure that it was really Inuyasha, and not another of the many nightmares that plagued her on the island. "It was so long for just one year, don't you believe me Inuyasha?" she asked, looking up into his confused eyes. After a moment, he nodded, kissing her forehead.

"I believe that you left and now you're back. You have some new tricks, but what difference can changing our ears be to defeating Naraku?" Kagome smiled, a hidden secret in her eyes.

"That was only an example. I'm no weak shard-detector now." Inuyasha was hurt by that statement; he hadn't called her that in almost a year now.

"No, you're not weak. I never thought you were."

A cough interrupted their tender moment before it took off into a full-blown argument.

"Um…Kags… I know that you probably don't care right now, but I have a job that just happens to involve you…" Yusuke grimaced, rubbing the back of his head while looking at the cement at his feet. Putting on a serious face, Kagome let go of Inuyasha and stepped toward Yusuke. She put out her hand, touching Yusuke's face gently. Taking it as a 'go ahead,' he did so: "actually… it involves the guardian of the Shikon no Tama…" Inuyasha growled and pulled kagome protectively behind his back.

"What are you talking about, runt?" Inuyasha growled out.

"Hey, I don't have to talk to you! This is between Kagome and me." Yusuke growled right back, his brown eyes flashing at the prospective of a fight.

"Boys!" Kagome yelled, stepping between the both and placed a hand on each of their chests. "Inuyasha, he's family and I trust him with my life. Yusuke, there will be no fighting in the shrine!" Kagome growled at the both of them, eyeing each in turn. "Now what does your boss want now?"

Taken back at her assertiveness, it took a moment to retrieve his line of thought. "Koenma wants to see the guardian of the Tama and make sure that _he_ can protect it properly." Yusuke said with a slight smirk. Kagome laughed back and hooked arms with Yusuke.

"Then what are we waiting for? The big, manly Guardian of the Shikon no Tama shouldn't keep the prince of the underworld waiting, should he?" Yusuke laughed back and dug out the communicator from his pocket. Problem was, the communicator looked like a pink blush compact. "What, you need to make yourself all pwetty to see your boss?" Yusuke gave kagome a mean look and flipped it open, revealing a few buttons and what, indeed, looked like a mirror on top.

The image of a girl with sky-blue hair and a bubblegum-pink kimono flashed onto the screen. "Yusuke! I didn't even know you knew how to call out on your communicator!"

Yusuke rolled his eyes and spoke up bored, "get me a portal to Koenma. I have the guardian and he put up quite of a fight, so I don't know if he'll be conscious until we get there." Yusuke flipped the compact shut and kagome burst out laughing, falling to the ground with tears in her eyes.

"My Gawd, you're bad!" was all she could manage between her tears.

"Where are you taking her?" Inuyasha growled, taking the front of Yusuke's shirt in his clawed fist.

"Gee, it's like Déjà vu all over again." Yusuke rolled his eyes and looked down at Kagome, who had stopped laughing. (What's that quote from? I remember reading or hearing it somewhere before…)

"Inuyasha, stop that. All they want to do is meet me, nothing more. I'm not afraid of them, and you shouldn't be either. Don't worry, it won't take long!" Kagome reassured as she stood up and dusted herself off.

"So, you planning on going in that?" Yusuke asked, eyeing Kagome's peculiar choice of clothing. She was wearing an off-white un-dyed robe that hung off her shoulders onto about an inch off the ground. The only thing securing it was a bodice made of some sort of leather that accented her curves. Her sleeves were loose and slightly bell-like, but not as much as Inuyasha's haori. A few strands of fine chains led from around her neck to under the bodice, hiding the metal charms and bottle of jewel shards at the end. Except for her forelocks (which were plainly braided), her hair was swept up into multiple strands of braiding with a silver bead on the end of each, brought into a loose bun at the nape of her neck.

"Why not?" Kagome shrugged. Honestly, she had forgotten about her wardrobe. It was required training clothing for the girls on the island. She had protested and the bodice restrained her breathing at first, but she had become very used to it. "it's not like I can fix my hair and put on my neon orange backless collared shirt fast enough before the portal… and here it is!" indeed, a rip in the air in front of them opened, revealing a sort of black swirling vortex-tunnel.

"Friendly looking, isn't it?" Kagome asked as the girl that was in the communicator floated out on… an oar? Kagome shook her head and sighed. Some things were not meant to be answered.

"Where is he?" the floating girl asked, looking around. Yusuke put his arm around Kagome and Kuwabara did the same on Kagome's other side.

"Here's the prisoner Botan!" Yusuke said with a chuckle. Botan looked at the exotic-looking girl questionably.

"He can change into a girl… no wonder spirit world couldn't find her…" Botan put her finger to her lip in a thoughtful gesture and floated around the trio, trying to see any flaws in 'his' 'female' 'costume'. Kagome hung her head and sighed. This one was a hopeless case, wasn't she?

"Let's just get this over with so I can get onto more important things, like finding more shards." Kagome mumbled the last part so only the two beside her could hear.

"Alrightee then! Follow me!" Botan giggled, floating into the vortex.

Kagome sighed, "Is she always like that?"

"Worse."

"Goody. So… We're off to see the Lizard then? The wonderful Lizard of Oz?" Kagome wrapped her arms around the boys' waists and they strutted off down the cement-brick road and into the vortex, laughing, leaving poor Inuyasha speechless and without reason to follow. Hanging his head, he headed into the house to inform Gin that her daughter had left. Again. Without checking in. Again.

* * *

"Yo, toddler!" Yusuke yelled, slamming the oversized doors to the young prince's office wide open. 

"Yusuke, that's rude! How can your boss be—squee! He's so cute!" Kagome rushed forward and glomped the toddler sitting in the overstuffed office chair, stamping away at various documents. "Cutie, can you tell me where your daddy is so we can talk to him about the Shikon?" the toddler's eyes widened (gee, not at all because he had a face full of boobs) and he tried to pry himself from Kagome's grasp. Groaning, he 'poof'ed into his teen form and stepped back, adjusting his cape to fall correctly around his shoulders.

"I am Yusuke's boss," he glared discreetly in the detective's direction, "and what do you know about the Shikon no Tama?"

Kagome sulked and leaned against the giant oak desk, "oh, where did that cute baby go?" Yusuke burst out laughing, rolling on the floor much like Kagome had at the shrine earlier.

"The… cute… Koenma… hahaha!" Yusuke was starting to turn blue, he was laughing so hard.

Growling slightly, the teenager's cheeks pinked slightly. "I am that 'baby,' as you say, and I would be much obliged if you did not hug me like that again." Walking around his desk to sit in his previous seat, he continued to stamp at various papers that warranted his attention. In her mind, the toddler and the teenager being the same person didn't quite add up, but then again, she'd seen stranger things with her year on the island. Some of the many gods that would pop in and out of the island would seem as small as a flower one moment, and the next, tower over her (and the huts, and the mountain in the center of the island).

Kagome pinked, remembering _exactly_ what he had a good view of while she was hugging him. Discreetly looking down, she pulled on one chain and brought the jewel shard bottle up from between her bosom. "I know that I am the Shikon no Tama's protector, that's what I know."

"Th… that can't be! The last female guardian of the Shikon disappeared over 500 years ago!" Koenma sputtered, barely resisting to touch the bottle. Now that he could see it, he could feel the great power emanating from the tiny objects. Only a piece of fabric separated him and the shards moments ago, and he could not feel even an ounce of its power. Kagome huffed and stuffed the bottle back with the other necklaces.

"I'm not Kikyo!"

Koenma shook his head, trying to clear the fog that had enveloped his mind, "no, I wasn't talking about Priestess Kikyo. I was talking about Lady Kagome. You… can't be her?" Koenma asked in shock, looking at her face in reverence. "The files are from before I was born, but some of them said that she was a time-traveler. Of course I don't believe it, but it could be a possibility, right? I mean, the Shikon hasn't shown up for the past 500 years, not even in spirit world, and it all of a sudden just 'poof' appears in Ningenkai? This could be a dis—" Kagome put her finger on his lips to shush him.

"Yes, I do time travel. And yes, I am Kagome, but none of this 'lady' stuff, alright?" Koenma nodded, his eyes threatening to fall out of their sockets as he tried to bow to her, his head hitting the corner of the oak desk in the process.

"I-I'm so sorry Lady Kagome, I had no idea! Please, let me make it up to you by offering the services of my detectives to you to complete your mission!" that stopped Yusuke's laughter right out. Sure, he had thought of following Kagome, what with all those crazy stories of demons and humans living in the same world and all, but didn't think it'd actually work.

Kagome looked around to the spirit prince, reaper and detectives, shaking her head. "No, I cannot place my cousin and his team in trouble. I must decline your offer. Now if you please, take me back to the shrine so I can continue with my mission."

"C-cousin! Who would you be related to, if I may ask?" Kagome smirked and went over to Yusuke, propping her interlaced hands on his un-greased hair.

"I'll give you a clue: my uncle was the king called Raizen."

"R-Raizen! Yusuke? Yusuke is your cousin?"

"Double cousins actually" the cousins spoke in unison, sending a shiver down Koenma's spine at the similarities in their demeanors.

"Oh, speaking of shards… these are yours, right?" Yusuke asked, a handkerchief opening in his hand to reveal at least half a dozen Shikon shards. "When you told me about them, I kept my eyes open. The tournaments I was in gave me most of them." Amazingly, the shards were as purified as when Kagome was holding them.

Kagome nodded, taking them and slipping them into the small glass bottle. "Yeah, it must run in the family then, ne?" Yusuke shrugged and pocketed the handkerchief, showing first that there was no special seal or charm stitched or painted onto it.

"Despite your relation to my spirit team, I must insist that at least one team member follow along with you. Insurance reasons, you understand." Koenma managed to say, sweating a little.

Kagome walked up to Koenma's desk and sat on the corner. "And what if I say no?" she asked, leaning into his face. Koenma's eyes wandered anywhere but kagome, landing on Yusuke in a pleading manner.

"Then, by the order of King Enma, I'll have to confiscate your jewel shards and all memories related to them." Kagome growled and turned to Yusuke.

"You never told him, did you? This 'boss' of your know nothing about you, does he? About us, who we are?" Yusuke shrugged in a semi-helpless gesture.

"It never really came up before. If he knew, I wouldn't have been able to fight as much—"

"You and your fists! You're never happy unless you can fight…" Kagome turned back to Koenma, "let me see the files you have on me: Kagome Higurashi."

Shaking, Koenma nodded and pressed a call button on his desk, "Yes Koenma-sama?"

"Bring me all the files you have on someone named Higurashi, Kagome."

"Yes Koenma-sama, right away."

Tense minutes later, a hesitant girl with cropped purple hair slowly opened the door, slipping along the wall to Koenma's desk. Kagome looked at her and she gave a little 'eep' and practically threw a thin file on the desk and ran to the door. Sighing, Kagome plucked the file from the desk before Koenma could reach for it. Peeking inside, she only found a single sheet of paper and a small photo attached that looked like it was from her yearbook several years ago. Holding the paper to the light, Kagome read basic stats like her birth date and her grade transcripts. "…has a tendency for argument…" she read out loud, "I do not!" she objected, spotting an asterisk at the very bottom, attached to a footnote in barely legible handwriting. "'see Child Angel Leveling'… see Koenma-whatever-your-name-is! Get that girl back here with this file!" seeing his hesitancy, Kagome leaned over and pushed the intercom button, much to his objection. "Bring a file titled 'child angel leveling' to Koenma's desk as fast as you can," Kagome demanded before the secretary could even say anything.

Moments later, the intercom buzzed, "Ma'am, this file is restricted, do you have an access code?" Kagome looked over at Yusuke and Kuwabara, shrugging.

"Try 'kore kara zuto itsumademo,'" Kuwabara suggested after Yusuke had shrugged in confusion also.

"'For always and forever'?" Kagome asked, "Well, it's the best we have." She pushed down on the button. "Kore kara zuto itsumademo."

There was a tense silence over the line as the secretary typed in the password. Buzzing into life, the secretary spoke again, "which level do you want, Ma'am?" blowing a strand of hair out of her face, Kagome shrugged.

"Blue, I guess." Looking at the others, particularly the sheen in their hair, Kagome spoke again, "and green and orange if you can."

"Blue? Green? Orange? What type of levels are those?" Koenma scoffed, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.

Kagome shrugged. "Hey, I wasn't the one that came up with the system. The warmer the color, the more powerful the child angel. At least, that's how I remember it. Black's what most beings are, maybe purple or indigo if they're lucky. White is like super-mondo-god-like levels…"

"S-class," Yusuke supplied.

"Yeah, like your demon energy S-class level." Kagome shrugged, "once a soul is initiated, their hair sheen shows off their level, like 'hey, I'm yellow-class, so you'd better stay out of my way!'"

Kuwabara laughed lightly and shook his head, "they're not always that cocky, and you know that!"

Kagome stuck out her tongue, "I know, I know! But you must admit, we… they're still more powerful than some spirit-energy user!"

"We—they're different energy types. One's not better than the other," Kuwabara corrected, "when the angels are fighting, they have to leave their bodies behind, leaving them vulnerable. And when the demons or humans are fighting, they're open to angelic attacks. It balances out." He grumbled, crossing his arms and ankles, waiting for the files to arrive.

"How—" Koenma was cut off as three thick folders fell onto his desk. "Ah…" Kagome grabbed the blue folder and gave the green and orange ones to Yusuke and Kuwabara respectively.

"Here I am!" Kagome exclaimed, pulling a smaller file of dark blue out of the larger one. Yusuke pulled a mid-green out of his large one, and Kuwabara pulled a goldenrod.

"It's still technically orange." He grumbled, pinking in the cheeks slightly as he put his file on top of Yusuke's on the desk.

"…Pseudo-deaths: 25, transformations: 43, spirits saved… whoa, that's weird." Kagome held up a page and watched as the light bounced off the number, changing from 26 to 29 as she moved the page.

"You didn't file the paperwork for those spirits," Kuwabara offered, seeing the same problem with Yusuke's paper also.

Kagome sighed, "Did you always file the paperwork?" as Kuwabara nodded, he dodged Kagome's weak swipe at his shirt. "I guess those two that I didn't file were Mayu (an episode), the girl that died in that fire, Kamiya (chapter 10), that ghost bride, and Kikyo (name an episode…)… I guess that explains the kimono then…"

"What kimono?" Yusuke asked out of curiosity.

"A kimono that I got from the ghost bride. Whenever the angel, or Tenshi, returns to the body, any wounds that she, or he, gains from being out of the physical plane, appears on the body. I guess it would work on clothing in theory also, right?" the boys shrugged in unison.

"Ah, here's the paper I wanted!" kagome exclaimed, grabbing the very last paper. "Ah-hem! 'This file and all paperwork included entitle the following teammates security and amnesty for all objects, persons, and spirits in their care: Kazuma Kuwabara, Yusuke Higurashi-Urameshi, Kagome Higurashi and…' oh." A tear slid down her face as she read the last name silently. "… That's why. That's why we couldn't remember everything…"

"Dead?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes. 'Dead, date to be re-born within the next twenty-five years'." Yusuke nodded, closing his personal file and placed it on Koenma's desk.

"Read it sometime, you might find something interesting in there that's not on my public file." Yusuke said, stepping away. Kagome and Kuwabara nodded in agreement, placing their personal files on top of Yusuke's.

"Wait. Even if you are 'child angel level' or whatever, I still have to hold you to my orders." Koenma stated firmly, placing a hand on the files and drawing them nearer. "either take one of my detectives or forfeit the Shikon no Tama."

"Well, if I guess you're going to _force_ me to have someone follow me, who would be better than my partner-in-crime?" Kagome laughed and jumped onto Yusuke's back, causing him to fall down. "But Inuyasha's not gonna be to happy about this though." She commented, putting a thoughtful finger to her chin.

Pretending to struggle, Yusuke flipped Kagome off and looked up at her from the floor. "Man, you got fat since we were kids!"

Kuwabara cringed, that was the last thing that Yusuke needed to say. Kagome lifted her claws and growled, the shadows in the room coming to surround the helpless Toushin. All the while, Yusuke was still grinning like he had won the lottery. "Yusuke, I'm going to let you come, but you're getting **hell** first!" Kagome yelled, bringing her fist down into his face.

Yusuke caught it, grinning, and nodded to Koenma. "I guess—whoop! Were you trying to hit me?—I'm going with Kags to help her!" Yusuke let go of Kagome's fist as he dodged a kick to his beltline. Grabbing her foot, he gestured to Botan to open a portal back to the shrine. "Chill Kags, it's not like it's the bad kind of fat!" Yusuke nearly was slashed in the arm with a rogue claw from kagome. Letting go of her foot, he made a break for the portal.

"Get back here you twerp!" Kagome yelled after him, giving chase to her cousin into the vortex. Unfortunately, the exit to the portal ended about 15 feet into the air. As Yusuke fell, he turned to look up and his grin dropped faster than his body. Landing, he jumped up and away as soon as he could, barely missing being hit by an energy attack.

"Watch it! You almost hit me there!"

"That was the point, so stand still so I can hurt you!" Kagome yelled back, giving chase around the shrine yard…

Looking out the window, Inuyasha sighed. "Are they always like this?" he managed to ask, cringing at what the answer would be.

"They haven't done any property damage yet, so this is just playing for them." Gin commented, handing Inuyasha a cup of ramen and stood next to him in the picture window with a mug of coffee. Next thing they knew, they heard more than saw Kagome barrel into Yusuke on the roof of the house and roll down the slope, falling just out from the flower garden under the picture window.

"Time!" Kagome yelled, leaning back and putting her hands into the 'T' symbol. Yusuke laid back and breathed hard as Kagome stood up, brushing off her long skirt. Closing her eyes, Kagome placed both hands at the crown of her head and brushed downward; changing her entire outfit to what Inuyasha had given her for Feudal travel. She opened her eyes and looked downward, muttering something along the lines of 'I could never get this spell right.'

"Where'd you learn that Kags?" Yusuke asked, cracking his eyes open to look at his cousin. Not hearing him, she repeated the spell, this time to a less loosely-flowing costume. The top was a bright flowery-orange/red color that looked like a Chinese-styled dress, but was completely without a back except for a low tie at the waste that became a sort of short skirt that split at the sides. Instead of her long skirt on underneath, she had a pair of Gi pants that were forest green swirled with blue towards the bottom hem.

Inspecting her costume, Kagome shrugged and looked at her cousin. "Dunno." She held her hand out for Yusuke to take, "if you're gonna follow me, we might as well make sure that _it_ still works, right?"

"I don't see how that would work with what you told me about your 'adventure' Kags, leaving our bodies behind would be a bit of a pain, don't you think?" Yusuke commented offhandedly, unbuttoning his green jacket and taking off his white undershirt.

Taking Yusuke's jacket and shirt, Kagome shrugged. "It's another one that I learned, but I don't know if it'll work or not since you weren't there with me…" she folded the articles and laid them on the front stoop. "From what they told me, it has something to do with the blending of powers and some alchemical dispositional thingy…" seeing Yusuke's blank look, Kagome smirked in agreement. "Basically, your spirit powers, demon powers, and angel powers are combining so your angelic features are actually on a tangible level…" Yusuke still had a blank look, and so did Kuwabara for that matter. "Your mortal body gets wings."

"Oh! That makes sense. Why'd you not say that before?" Kagome shrugged and looked sheepish.

"What are you two talking about?" Inuyasha asked, walking out of the door. Angels, Kagome's powers—he was completely lost and he didn't like it.

Blushing, Kagome ducked her head in a vulnerable manner. "Oops, I guess I need to fill you in about that, right?" Kagome looked into the window and saw her mother sitting on the couch. Gesturing toward one of the smaller shrine buildings, kagome started to walk away, "it's a long story, really. When I was younger, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Yusuke's girlfriend Keiko—how is she by the way?"

"She's doing okay, I guess." Yusuke shrugged. He hadn't seen her for the past few months, so he wouldn't really know.

"As I was saying, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko and I all used to play together. We'd play Oni (Japanese Tag), Tenshi-Tengu (angels and demons), and other things." Kagome laughed lightly at the ironic way that they now were what they used to play: demons. "One day," Kagome grabbed on shoji door and Yusuke the other, "we were exploring, and we found this." Opening the doors, they stepped into a room that was practically empty.

"A room? You have a lot of those here." Inuyasha rubbed his elbow, "I should know; I helped clean most of them." Kagome shook her head and ran her hand around the solid wood-slat wall, a claw snagging on a hidden pit behind one slat.

"No, this." Kagome said, using the pit to pry the slat away from the wall to reveal a hidden alcove. Several necklaces hung on hooks around the top of the wall.

(Flashback)

"Owe! Yusuke-kun, that wasn't very nice!" a child-like Kagome called over her shoulder, rubbing her head. Something hit her head, and it was very big, and it hurt.

"What'd I do this time?" Yusuke, about the same age, came running into one of the small private shrine buildings on the shrine.

"You hit me!" Kagome huffed, sitting up from being knocked onto the floor.

"How could I hit you when I was outside, baby!" Yusuke taunted, not daring to enter further than the doorway.

"You're the baby, throwing things at me! Mommy said that wasn't pa-pu-polite!" Kagome yelled, stumbling over the hard word.

"Then how could I throw that?" Yusuke asked smugly, pointing at a large wooden slat that now lay innocently on the floor where Kagome stood previously.

Looking up, both Yusuke and Kagome saw a hole where the board used to be. "Kagome-chan! Yusuke! Where are you guys? This isn't fun anymore!" a very small child called, almost knocking Yusuke over as he ran over to join them.

"Didn't do it!" Kagome and Yusuke yelled at the same time, looking at the small child nervously.

"Don't tell Momma!"

"Yeah, don't tell Auntie Gin! I'll beat you if you do!" Yusuke shook his fist in the smaller child's face.

The child nodded rapidly, his orange curls bouncing wildly. "Don't worry, I won't." he said in wonder, looking up into the hole, wondering what was inside.

"Kazu-chan?"

"Kuwabara!" Yusuke waved his hand in front of small Kuwabara's face. He couldn't see anything! There was something in that hole, he just knew it. But how could he get up there when it was over his head? Walking forward, Kuwabara reached up into the hole, barely touching the bottom rim.

"Help me up guys, I think I feel something!" Kuwabara squeaked, losing his balance and falling against the wall. Shrugging, Yusuke and Kagome shoulder Kuwabara out of the way and reach inside also, not doing much better. After nearly climbing over each other to get a look into the hole, Yusuke sighed and went down to his knees, pulling Kagome down also. Both children braced on hands and knees as Kuwabara climbed onto their backs, on foot firmly planted on each back. Rising up to stand, he could now see inside and grabbed a set of small boxes that were inside. "Got it!" and with that, both Kagome and Yusuke sat up, knocking Kuwabara off and onto his back, spilling the boxes across the floor.

Scrambling across the floor, Kagome and Yusuke reached for the same box, grabbing it at the same time. "I want to open it!" they yelled at each other, pulling at their own end.

Sniffling, Kuwabara grabbed the box that landed closer to him and cradled it to his chest. "I get to open my own." He mumbled, closing his eyes and prying the lid of off the small wooden box. At the same time, the cousins' box flew open and fell onto the ground. Both boxes emitted a light that washed out all color and shape in the room.

(End)

"…and the next thing we know, we're at this place called Tenchi (heaven), training to be Tenshi (angels). It was weird; really, I don't remember much of what happened at that time…" Kagome sighed, grabbing the puzzle boxes from the alcove. Tossing one to Yusuke, Kagome held out the other to Kuwabara.

He held up his hand, "not now. I have to revive you if your spell or whatever doesn't work, Kags. And I remember what happened and why you two don't remember much. You guys found out too much and wanted to forget. You did, but I didn't." Kuwabara looked out the door and rubbed his arm. "You found out that not all spirits want to be saved."

* * *

Yeah, you're all confused, and I know it. Just take it at surface value and it'll make you a lot happier. All you really need to know is 1) Yusuke's going to Feudal Japan with Kagome. 2) They were angels (kind of like Botan is now) that saved children's souls from hell. And 3) Kagome and Yusuke share their power, so they can't turn 'angel' unless they are around each other. Later, Dark Inu Fan 

PS. Don't hurt me if I have something in Japanese mis-spelled or abused!


	35. On The Wings of Birds

Sorry for taking so long, I had the realities of senior year in high school kick in. And FF wasn't exactly letting me update my lovely chapeters either! Wahh!

I don't own Inuyasha or YuYu Hakusho either, got it?

Chapter 35: On The Wings of Birds

Last time: He held up his hand, "not now. I have to revive you if your spell or whatever doesn't work, Kags. And I remember what happened and why you two don't remember much. You guys found out too much and wanted to forget. You did, but I didn't." Kuwabara looked out the door and rubbed his arm. "You found out that not all spirits want to be saved."

This time: Kagome nodded, flashes of memory going through her mind if those missing years when they were younger. A smiling face, a little girl, her name… her name was… Keiko. More flashes, this time of a broken wing, bloody and being crushed in reddish hands, a scream tore through the air as the vision went black.

Shaking her head, Kagome leaned against the wall in what she hoped would be a discreet manner. Now she remembered why. Why she and the boys could only remember passing flashes of their childhood, and why Keiko never really wanted to be around much when Kagome was. She was the angel, she was the one whose spirit was crushed by the ghost-turned-phantom, dying and falling from Tenshi status. That's why she was mortal now, utterly and completely, with the memory of what it was to fly, knowing that she could never attain that again. That's why the two girls never talked again after that, that's why they would fight over Yusuke's attention. Closing her eyes, Kagome sighed and sent up a small prayer that Keiko would eventually forgive her for keeping something that the other no longer could have.

"…alright?" Yusuke asked, his hand on Kagome's shoulder. Smiling briefly, Kagome nodded and stood upright. "What do you think of the plan?" he asked, wanting her confirmation. Kagome gave Yusuke a confused glance and shook her head, she must have blocked out the conversation. "Since auntie Gin might catch us, how about we try this on the other side?" the other side meant the well and open spaces. If something went wrong, there would be less of a chance that outsiders would get in the way. Kagome nodded and opened the box in her hands, taking out a half-pendant on a chain and put it around her neck. Yusuke agreed silently and placed the other half around his neck also.

Kuwabara looked grim. He already knew that it was impossible for him to pass through without some major help from the others. It was highly unlikely that the shrimp would like to go through the time portal, so he was virtually stuck. Standing at the door, he watched the cousins put on their necklace charms with a grim realization. This time he wouldn't be part of the adventure, just like when Yusuke went off to demon world to train. Those were the longest three years of his life to date. "Hey, just be careful, okay?" Kuwabara asked gruffly, folding his arms across his chest. Kagome nodded and smiled, giving the carrot-top a hug.

"Don't worry, I'm going to make sure that your sparring partner stays alive long enough for you to win!" Kagome and Kuwabara shared a small laugh at Yusuke's expense. Nodding in agreement, Kuwabara hugged Kagome back and stood back to get a good look at her.

Inuyasha growled and pulled Kagome away from the human's grasp. Kagome already had a lot of foreign smells laced throughout her scent without a strange human male's scent on her too. Smells such as in Kaede's garden, but stronger. Many scents that he didn't know, or want to know, what they belonged to. There was a scent of magic that clung to her almost insistently also, hidden underneath her natural scent. It spiked whenever she did those small spells earlier, but otherwise he would not have noticed.

"Is this alright Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, gesturing toward Yusuke. "Yusuke's a really good fighter and I trust him with my life. Since we're going after Naraku… he could probably help us." Inuyasha didn't like the idea, but relented anyway, grumbling under his breath. Nuzzling Inuyasha's chin, Kagome smiled in contentment as she wrapped her arms around the hanyou. "Thank you, you don't know what this means to me."

"Yeah, yeah, can we go now?" Inuyasha asked grudgingly, not willing to give into the warm nuzzling.

"Not yet," the boy, Yusuke, spoke up. "I have to get some supplies and clothes. And mom would be pissed, not to mention Keiko, if I didn't tell her I was going on another trip."

"Don't forget Puu." Kagome supplied quietly.

"And Puu. The little fluff ball would never forgive me if I left him behind." Yusuke consented, nodding.

"Would tomorrow morning work? We'll be leaving early, so you'd better show up even earlier if you don't want to be left behind!" Kagome offered, trying to appease both dominant males. She could tell that those two would get along swimmingly with how they were glaring at each other was any indicator.

Yusuke nodded. "You'd better not leave at midnight or something or…" Yusuke held up his hand, pointing at her heart, "bang." He grinned and walked off with Kuwabara in tow.

Inuyasha growled, "I saw him do that earlier, what's that supposed to mean anyway? He's going to poke us to death?"

Kagome shook hear head and replaced the board to the hole in the wall. "No, he can shoot his energy out his finger, like a gun." She saw his confused look. "Like that cannon that one of the seven assassins had, only smaller." Kagome shrugged, that was the best way she could think of. She started walking toward the house, stopped and smiled toward Inuyasha. "Come on, I haven't been home in a year! I wanna see Momma now!" she called, a playful look on her face. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and followed. Sometimes she could just act like a pup more than Shippou. Speaking of the kit, he wondered if the child had woken up yet.

"Hurry up Inuyasha! Are you coming or going back through the well?" Kagome asked from the front door, holding it open for the hanyou. Inuyasha took a leap and landed on the front porch, startling Kagome slightly.

"We should go in. Enjoy your bed for tonight, because I have a feeling you won't be sleeping in it for a while." Kagome nodded and left the door open for Inuyasha to follow inside.

"Momma!" came the exited squeal of Kagome, emanating from the kitchen where her mom was most likely making dinner. Inuyasha followed the noise, looking into the kitchen where Kagome was hugging her mother nearly to death. "I've missed you so much! It's been so long since I've been home!" all Gin could manage to do was hug her daughter back hesitantly, giving Inuyasha an inquiring glance.

"Kagome," Gin spoke up, earning some breathing room from her daughter as she stepped back, "where were you?"

Blushing, Kagome rubbed the back of her head as she traced patterns in the wooden floor with her big toe. "I don't really know how to explain this," she took a deep breath, as if she was diving into deep water, "but to me it's been over a year since I came home. The last time I saw you, you were saying something along the lines of 'they are expecting you' or something like that. I think you were possessed then, so you probably don't remember…" Gin shook her head as she tried to understand what her daughter was saying. "Thought so. Well, basically, you sent me to England to get training from these people that called themselves 'the Daughters.' They taught me how to use my powers and everything. I also met a lot of Kami that taught me things also. I remember now Momma, I remember everything that I forgot!" with that revelation, Gin's mouth formed into a grim line. Not everything that Kagome grew up around wasn't exactly the best formula for good memories. Some of them she would have liked to forget herself.

"That's good honey," Gin tried to give a half-hearted smile of her daughter's behalf, "maybe some of your memories could help you in the future, don't you think?"

Kagome nodded enthusiastically and gave her mother another hug. Giving a jaw-cracking yawn, Kagome stretched, "wow, I'm tired! I'm going to go to bed early, is that okay Momma?" Gin nodded and Kagome walked out of the kitchen with Inuyasha in tow.

Up in her room, Kagome released the glamour spell that had changed her clothes. She sat on the bed stiffly, reaching behind her back to try to undo her bodice's laces without snapping them with her claws. She had gone through more sets of strings that way than most girls would in their entire extended lifetimes! When she was tired from training, Kagome didn't even bother with trying to untie the strings for fear of slicing the entire apparatus to ribbons.

"Let me get that," Inuyasha offered, sitting behind her on the bed.

Kagome nodded and lay on her belly so he could get to the lacings better. "Just don't slice anything apart. It'll be hard to get repairs in this world." Inuyasha scoffed and used his claws to delicately pick apart the knot at the small of her back.

"Why are you wearing something like this in the first place?" Inuyasha asked, success gleaming in his eyes as he finally undid the first knot.

"This?" Kagome asked, fingering the hem of one of her sleeves, "all the trainee girls wore this while I was there. It's their uniform or something like that. Even most of the teachers wore stuff like this, only with a colored sash around their waist and a crescent tattoo between their eyebrows." Kagome didn't see, but more like sensed Inuyasha's raised eyebrow. "No, not like Sesshoumaru. Their crescents had both points pointed up—ooh, that's better!—like at the ball." Kagome sighed as Inuyasha loosened the strings on the bodice before proceeding to unstring the thing.

"So… you were training with a bunch of hostesses?" Kagome shook her head as she sat up so the bodice could be removed completely.

"No. the crescent meant that they were an initiated priestess, like the red and white that Kaede and Kikyo," both cringed at the dead priestess' name, "wear. I was thinking while I was there… and I understand that you still care for her. I-I guess I can share if that's what it comes down to. The only thing making you choose would accomplish is hurting all three of us." Kagome sighed and took her bodice and folded it up to put on her chair. Standing up in nothing but the white shift, Kagome took a few deep breaths and did a few quick stretches, reveling in the freedom of the confines of the bodice. In the afternoon light, Inuyasha could easily see the outline of Kagome's natural form through the cloth. Fighting down his natural reaction, Inuyasha stood up and encircled his arms around Kagome's slim waste.

"No matter how long you were gone, I still missed you," Inuyasha admitted quietly, settling his chin between her ears. The soft appendages flicked in response to his warm breath. Nodding softly, Kagome placed her hands over his and hummed softly, both content to steal a small piece of peace for the time being. It would likely be a while before they were alone together again. Kagome yawned, the tip of her tongue curling slightly. Laughing, Inuyasha pulled Kagome back, "you're tired, go ahead and lie down then." Kagome nodded and went over to the bed and lied down on top of the covers, closing her eyes softly.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome murmured, half asleep. The boy turned from the doorway, looking at the sleepy hanyou, "will you hold me?" after a moment of hesitation flashing past his face, Inuyasha nodded and crawled behind Kagome on the bed, his arm encircling her waste and the other pillowing his head. Kagome smiled lightly as she passed out. Only Kagome knew just how long it had been since she had anyone close enough to hold.

* * *

"Hey Yus-kun! We were about to leave you behind if you had shown up any later!" Kagome called down from the Goshinboku. Her yellow bag was sitting at the foot of the tree as well as a stack of home made lunches for the others. Inuyasha was dressed in his usual attire and held a hand on the small of Kagome's back to make sure that she didn't fall off the branch that they were sitting on. Kagome was wearing the hakama that Inuyasha had given her, but was wearing a sleeveless orange halter top with a Chinese collar around her neck. The orange top matched the orange flowers that hemmed the bottom edge of her hakama.

Kagome jumped down and hugged her cousin fiercely. "Yeah, you can imagine the toddler messing his diaper over me missing the ride!" Yusuke laughed, putting his pack down beside Kagome's yellow monstrosity. "Do I get breakfast, or are you going to let your poor cousin starve this early in the day?" Kagome laughed and shrugged.

"I haven't had breakfast either. Mr. Grumpy pants wanted to leave without you two hours ago," Inuyasha scoffed, crossing his arms and jumping down to stand beside Kagome. "Momma probably is waiting with breakfast almost done anyway!" right then, a blue… blob fell on Yusuke's head. It looked like a bright blue penguin with bunny ears and a tuft of black fur between them. "Hello Puu! I haven't seen you in forever!" the foot-tall creature flew off Yusuke's head (he was looking a little peevish anyway) and into Kagome's arms. Kagome walked off with the creature, cooing to it the entire way.

"What is that _thing_ anyway?" Inuyasha asked, hauling up Kagome's bag to put it by the well house.

"He's me…kinda." Yusuke shrugged and placed his bag next to Kagome's. "Puu's what's called a 'spirit beast' and he's supposed to represent what my soul is like."

"So you're a blue blob?" Yusuke shrugged and blushed.

"Technically… he's a phoenix." Kagome called over, hearing the boys' conversation. "Puu is like Kilala and this is his smaller form. Hurry up! I smell pancakes!"

Yusuke grinned. It wasn't often that he got home cooking unless he cooked it himself… and that never turned out pretty. "Puu you traitor, get back here!" he called half-heartedly. Knowing the spirit beast, Puu wouldn't leave Kagome's side unless it was necessary.

"He's a phoenix with bunny ears!" Kagome sang, dancing a little with Puu. Yusuke groaned and caught up to Kagome, glaring at the demi-demon half-heartedly. "Don't be mad with Puu Yusuke, he's just too cute to be mad at!"

"Yeah, she said the same thing about Shippou, and see what happened there!" Inuyasha grumped, thinking about 'future Shippou,' who was otherwise known as Youko Kurama the thief. Yusuke laughed. That was an opportunity too hard to miss when this was over!

"Admit it Inuyasha, you like Shippou." Kagome admonished, letting Puu sit on her shoulder.

"Yeah, like an infected wound." Kagome gave Inuyasha a glare and stomped inside to get some breakfast.

* * *

"Ready?" Kagome asked, rubbing her half of the charm on her necklace.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Are you sure that this'll work?" Yusuke asked, pulling his half of the charm also. Kagome shrugged and looked over at Miroku. The monk nodded his ready and Kagome closed her eyes to start the spell.

She smiled as she gripped the strings of her internal powers to bring them to the surface. Opening her eyes, she grabbed Yusuke's hand and squeezed, sending a small amount of power into his body.

FLASHBACK

"Ready Yusuke?" Kagome asked, sitting on the lip of the old well. Yusuke looked down it apprehensively. There was no way in the many levels of hell that he'd jump into that thing. No telling how deep it actually was.

"N-no!" Yusuke yelled, feeling hands on his back pushing him in. the blue light surrounded him as he went through the time rip. Kagome, holding Puu, and Inuyasha went through soon afterward. On the other side, they found Yusuke by the edge of the trees, losing his breakfast. Kagome looked down and Puu even seemed a little green.

"Oh no you don't!" Kagome warned, putting Puu down. The little phoenix tried to fly toward Yusuke, but it looked like he was drunk before crashing halfway there. The bird laid still and Yusuke wobbled to another tree to lean against. "I guess time travel doesn't suit you, ne cousin?" Kagome asked, grabbing a water bottle out of her backpack.

Yusuke leaned forward and put his head between his knees, "I feel like shit."

"And you look like it too," Kagome agreed, handing him the bottle, "rinse your mouth out with this and drink some of the rest. It might help settle your stomach." Yusuke nodded and took the bottle.

Seeing Kagome take care of her cousin, Inuyasha headed off toward the village. "I'm going to see how the others are doing." Without waiting for a reply, Inuyasha bounded off through the trees.

Kagome watched Inuyasha go off and sat down next to Yusuke. "Can you stand?" only a low moan and a shake of the head was her answer. She nodded and stood up. "I should probably get Puu. You two went through separately, so that's probably what the problem is." Yusuke shrugged and groaned. So far, this wasn't the vacation he thought it would be. Kagome placed the sick bird beside Yusuke and he reached out to stroke Puu's soft fur-like feathers on his back.

"Hey buddy, you're not doing too hot either, huh?" laughing slightly, he did feel a little better touching his spirit beast though. Maybe it was because they were part of the same spirit? Puu trilled weakly and sat up, leaning against Yusuke's thigh.

"You'll get used to it after a while. But the well didn't affect me this much though…" Kagome mused, seeing Yusuke green again after the mention of a return trip.

"Kagome-chan!" a call rang through the clearing. Kagome snapped her head up and grinned.

"Sango-chan! I missed you!" she stood up and jogged over to greet her friend.

"What do you mean? You haven't even been gone a week yet." Sango asked, but didn't dissuade her friend's hug.

Kagome pulled back a bit. "Well… I'll tell you later. Right now we have to get Yusuke to the village. Apparently Yusuke and time-travel don't get along too well." Sango nodded and looked at the strange boy. He had on a sleeveless Gi on that had pants the same shade of green as Kagome's and a yellow shirt tucked into it. A black belt completed the outfit.

"I-it's fine, I can walk." Yusuke said, holding himself up by leaning against the tree with one hand on his temples, the other holding a passed-out Puu. Kagome rushed to his side, taking Puu from his arms.

"Let us help you, okay Yusuke?" Kagome asked, putting the detective's arm around her shoulders. Yusuke groaned but didn't pull away from the help. Sango grabbed his bag and followed quietly, wondering why Kagome brought a stranger from her time with her.

"Kagome-chan…"

"Yes?" Kagome looked over her shoulder at the slayer.

"Never mind," Sango looked off into the forest, her lips pursed. Kagome shrugged and continued on.

Once they got to the village, Kagome led Yusuke to Kaede's and no sooner than lying down on one of the mats, he was passed out. Kagome chuckled, "oh how the mighty Yusuke has fallen, taken down by a little time jump!" Yusuke slept (and snored) the majority of the rest of the morning and Kagome filled in the others what had happened.

END

Yusuke tried to bite down a scream and a moment later, Kagome joined him as he sent a small amount of energy through her arm also. The two knelt, supporting each other, breathing hard. Twin bulges grew from either side of their spinal columns as they started to glow. Miroku cringed also, playing the medium between the physical plain and the spiritual. This wasn't what his powers were meant to be used for.

Kagome let out a brief scream as the twin bulges on her back seemed to pop like zits. The bony structure of a pair wings pushed out of her back, quickly covered with flesh and feathers. Yusuke followed suit a moment later with his wings. Inuyasha's eyes grew wide as he started to run forward, only to come in contact with a barrier that Miroku had put up just for that reason. The energy that the two exerted climaxed, transforming both of them into their complete demon states. Kagome lost her hanyou ears and gained a tail, while Yusuke's hair grew and turned blonde. Both gained tribal-like markings along their face and arms.

The glow flashed and both were tossed back like rag dolls. Kagome landed on her back, but Yusuke barely managed to stay upright, panting. Kagome sat up carefully, balancing on the balls of her feet and her fingers much like Yusuke was. The angelic twins grinned at each other as they flexed their wings gently, allowing the blood to crust and flake off of the feathers. "let-let's not do that again, okay?" Yusuke panted, stretching his wings out to their full extent. Kagome nodded in agreement.

"It won't be so bad the next time, now that the pathway's open. It'll be almost instantaneous next time." Yusuke rolled his eyes and attempted to stand up, folding his wings tight against his back. Good thing he took off his shirt before the process started; otherwise he'd be without a shirt for the rest of the adventure.

Kagome stood up also, not bothering to bring her wings in completely, and touched Yusuke's hair. Yusuke grimaced, "great, now I need another haircut. This happens every time!" he groused, making sure that all of his ankle-length hair was between his shoulder blades so they would be out of the way of his wings.

Kagome laughed and held out her hand. "I can do that now if you wish. Claws are as good as scissors anyway." Rolling his eyes, Yusuke turned around to allow Kagome access to his hair. "But first, we need to chill. We're expending too much energy right now." Kagome murmured so only Yusuke could hear her. He nodded and they both took a deep calming breath. Yusuke's hair turned black once again and Kagome's hanyou ears returned. Although their markings and her tail remained. During this, Miroku released his barrier and connection between worlds.

"Kagome-sama, you look like a Tenshi." Miroku commented, looking over her mixed features. Kagome blushed and turned away, putting her hand on Yusuke's shoulder to signal him to sit down. As he did so, he spread out his wings like a cloak so he wouldn't sit on them. Kagome looked at Yusuke's dark wing and smiled, lightly touching the top.

"That's new. You have a red stripe that connects your wingtips. It's even on your back." Kagome commented, tracing the blood colored stripe with her finger, sending a shudder down Yusuke's back. Drawing one wing forward, Yusuke looked and traced the stripe also.

"Yeah, yeah, great. Now hurry up before I leave you behind!" Inuyasha called impatiently, walking out of the field that held the well. Kagome shrugged and grabbed Yusuke's hair in one fist, slicing it short at the neck. Putting the hair to the side, she used her claws to layer his hair into what his haircut was previously. Without any gel in it, Yusuke looked a fair bit friendlier to talk to. Kagome smirked and ruffled his hair.

"All done. Just don't expect me to do that too often for you, alright?" Kagome commented, pulling out a plastic bag and stuffing the locks into it. She tied the bag shut and stuffed it into Yusuke's backpack. While Kagome was doing that, Yusuke had the chance to look at Kagome's wings as well. They had the same blood-red stripe as his, as well as the same iridescent-black feathers. "You ready?" Yusuke nodded and stretched his wings out fully before tying his yellow shirt back on, hiding the extra appendages completely from view. Kagome followed suit with her green and orange haori over her wings. Carrying their backpacks finished the illusion of having no wings. Both shirt and bags could be quickly shed while going airborne.

Kagome walked up to Sango and quietly took Shippou from her arms. The kit was still asleep even after the few days that he had to adjust to the new blood. Stroking his cheek lightly, Kagome leaned him against her shoulder, where he nuzzled under her chin with his claws imbedded into her haori. Soundlessly, Inuyasha watched the exchange and walked off, signaling for the others to follow. They soon fell into place with Inuyasha leading. Kagome was a half-step behind with Sango and Miroku following shortly after. Yusuke, being the new one in the pack, took up the rear and furthest position from lead. Kagome had quickly told him when he woke up what not to do. "Kagome," Inuyasha said almost emotionally.

"Yes?"

"Do you remember Kagura's scent?" Kagome nodded an affirmative. "There's a stench that has been hanging around since she left, which direction is it going?" Kagome closed her eyes and raised her nose.

"It's going that direction?" she said hesitantly, Inuyasha nodded and headed where she was pointing, to the west.

"That's Naraku's stench. Remember it." Inuyasha picked up his pace gradually to a run and the others had no choice to follow. Yusuke and Kagome on the ground, Miroku and Sango on Kilala.

* * *

Well, that's it for now. Ryoko, you and your sisters are in my prayers and for those in the United States, happy late Turkey day! Dark 


	36. The Final Battle

Chapter 36: The Final Battle

Last time: "Do you remember Kagura's scent?" Kagome nodded an affirmative. "There's a stench that has been hanging around since she left, which direction is it going?" Kagome closed her eyes and raised her nose.

"It's going that direction?" she said hesitantly, Inuyasha nodded and headed where she was pointing, to the west.

"That's Naraku's stench. Remember it." Inuyasha picked up his pace gradually to a run and the others had no choice to follow. Yusuke and Kagome on the ground, Miroku and Sango on Kirara.

This time: "You have those wings, why don't you use them?" Inuyasha grouched at their noon stop. Not surprisingly, it was the newbie Yusuke that was complaining for the break. He wasn't used to the long-distance running that the travelers usually did, and he was a city-boy to boot. Yusuke had tripped over more roots than Kagome had ever noticed before.

"Because," Yusuke kicked a tree after tripping over its roots, "our wings won't carry much more than our weight and a small weight beyond that. Kags carrying Kur-Shippou is pushing it if we were to fly comfortably." Yusuke quickly covered his near-slip.

"Puu can carry the bags, don't you think?" Kagome suggested, looking up from Shippou's sleeping form. "I think I have some extra rope in my bag to secure them on." Yusuke shrugged and looked over to the blue creature.

"You wanna try Puu?"

Inuyasha scoffed, "that little thing? What can he do, drag it along the ground?" Yusuke and Kagome gave him a dry look in response. Heading over to her bag, Kagome brought out a coil of unused rope and sealed her bag shut tight.

"Puu's a spirit beast…like Kirara I guess… and can transform into a larger form." He turned to the blue puffball with a beak, "Ready?" Yusuke called over to the creature and it flapped over to Yusuke, landing on his head, trilling an affirmative. Rolling his eyes, Yusuke plucked the creature from his head and placed it on the ground. "You know what to do," Yusuke mumbled as the creature was engulfed in a semi-transparent bubble. Flames licked the inside of the bubble as it grew to over their heads. The bubble popped, releasing the flames into the atmosphere and Puu stood there in his larger form. Puu stretched his long neck to rest on Yusuke's shoulder, where he scratched the creature between the bunny ears affectionately. "Good job Puu. Now lay down so we can get the bags attached to your back, okay?" the blue phoenix let out another trill, but this time a bit deeper in voice. The phoenix was at least twice the height of Yusuke at the shoulder and instead of having a black tuft of hair; he had a black mane down his long neck. Puu kept the lop-bunny ears though.

Shrugging off his bag, Yusuke jumped onto Puu's back so that Kagome could hand him her bag and the end of the rope. He strung the rope around a shoulder strap, under Puu's breast (thanks to Kagome's help), and through the other shoulder strap, securing it snugly at the base of Puu's neck. Under that, Yusuke strapped his lighter duffle bag to Kagome's yellow monstrosity. "All set. How's that feel Puu?" the phoenix turned its head to look at Yusuke and trilled lightly. Yusuke smiled and jumped off. "Try a couple laps first, and then we'll see about this working long-term." With a nod, Puu took off straight up, buffering the group with his wing thrusts. Finding a thermal (column of warm air), Puu circled high above the trees before coming straight down in a dive. Landing as gracefully as he could, Puu landed in the clearing and nudged the bags lightly. They hadn't moved a bit.

"Well," Yusuke grinned, scratching his cheek, "I guess it's 'up, up and away' for us then, huh Kags?" Kagome shrugged. There was no point arguing now.

"But what about Inuyasha? Do you think Puu can carry him if it comes to that?" Yusuke turned to Puu, who nodded, or more like bobbed his head up and down. "I take it as a yes then." Kagome sighed, pulling her Haori off. Yusuke took his off also and handed it to Kagome. Puu bent down for Kagome to reach her bag and she stuffed both articles of clothing into the top of her bag, securing it tightly.

Groaning, Kagome clasped her hands above her head and did a back stretch, also extending her wings to their full twenty-plus feet of extension. Sango's eyes widened, not expecting the wings to be quite so… large. No wonder Kagome kept them partially open before she had put her haori on that morning. "Umm… Kagome-chan?" Sango asked timidly, looking at the girl's black and red wings.

Kagome gave an amused smile and flicked her tail before extending her wing toward Sango. "You want to touch, right? Just don't go against the feathers, okay? They're sensitive." Sango nodded mutely and walked toward the wingtip, touching it feather-lightly, sending shivers up her wing. Tapping Sango's hand with the wing, the slayer took a much firmer touch, stroking the glossy feathers.

"They're soft," she murmured, walking towards Kagome's shoulder to feel the downy feathers that made up the base of the appendages and spread over most of her back. Kagome brought her wings back to their relaxed position and Sango inspected how the wing folded, with the powerful muscles attached to the top to work the wings.

Yusuke watched, stretching his slightly smaller wings briefly before letting them come to a rest with the tips dragging on the ground. Kagome managed to keep her wingtips out of the dirt with a slight extra effort. Miroku stepped up, noticing the two sets of wings having different shapes. Putting his finger to his chin, he pulled slightly to extend Yusuke's wing a small bit and Yusuke rolled his eyes. He was no lab rat! "Yeah, mine're smaller, so what?" he mumbled, crossing his arms.

Miroku shrugged, but didn't let go of the boy's wings. "Nothing much, but I am curious. Do the two types of wings serve different functions, like bird's wings?"

Looking off to Kagome, Yusuke shrugged off-handedly. "Kagome's more for gliding and I'm built for more power, quick dives and all that jazz." Miroku nodded and let go of the wing finally.

"You'll have to show me when we're flying. I would like to learn what I can so I could possibly record it later. After all, I am a man of knowledge among other things." Stepping back, Miroku turned to Inuyasha. "We should be off soon, should we not Inuyasha?" the irate hanyou snorted and walked off in the direction they were going, assuming the others would follow soon.

Picking up Shippou, Kagome looked around the clearing. Yusuke shrugged and whistled to Kagome. "Puu'll take us up, then we can launch off from there." Kagome nodded and jogged over, her wings twitching anxiously. Settling themselves between Puu's massive wings and holding onto the bags for dear life, Yusuke signaled the Phoenix to take off. The bird spirit took off straight up, forcing the cousins to lie almost flat against his back, their inner wing squished together and their outer wing pressed against Puu's wings respectively. Bolting over the head of Kilala, it wasn't until the cat was an ant under them until Puu evened out, gliding on the upper-air currents. Grinning at each other, the cousins prepared for their launch by kneeling on each side of Puu's neck, on top of Kagome's bag. Puu, picking up on their actions, tucked his wings in for a dive. The cousins pushed off and dove along with Puu, snapping their wings open in tandem once they were far enough away from each other to not get tangled in each other's feathers. Puu opened first, gliding back to the upper atmosphere; then Kagome softly so she would not injure Shippou; and finally Yusuke, after zooming past a startled Kilala and skimming the tree-tops. Grabbing a top leaf, Yusuke angled for an assent back to right above and beside Kilala.

"How was that, monk?" Yusuke smirked, dropping the green leaf as proof.

"My name's Miroku, Yusuke-sama." Yusuke twitched at the honorific.

"None of this 'sama' stuff, got it. I get that enough without you calling me that too." Yusuke said mulishly, crossing his arms.

Miroku nodded and grinned. "Yes, Yusuke-dono, I'll do well to remember it." Yusuke cringed and growled, pulling into a back flip before flapping to catch up with Kagome higher in the air.

Yusuke dropped from above, matching his wing beats with Kagome's so he could fly directly above her. "You miss this too, don't you?" Kagome nodded, adjusting her long beats so that Yusuke wouldn't crash into her with his slightly faster stroke.

"Yes, I forgot how it was up here without riding on Kilala or Inuyasha's back." She murmured, hugging Shippou close. Her arms were getting tired and if she was going to continue to do this, she would have to make a sling for Shippou to ride on her back while he was still asleep. But after so long, a little fatigue was worth it to hold her child again.

"What's that?" Yusuke asked, noticing for the first time the dagger that was attached to her back.

"What, that?" Kagome asked twisting her hips slightly so that Yusuke could see it better away from under her tail fur and wing feathers. "It's my engagement present from Inuyasha." She said off-handedly, making Yusuke nearly collide with her as he missed a wing beat.

"What!" Yusuke sputtered. He knew that the two were promised to each other, but he didn't expect them to be engaged!

"Yes, it'd be… a couple of weeks ago for Inuyasha. It's been over a year for me though and I actually learned to use it, too." Kagome talked wistfully about the curved dragon-blade. It actually looked like a miniature Tetsusaiga and could stab as well as it could channel her powers for ceremony. Like the ceremony that she planned on doing with Shippou as soon as the kit was awake enough to bear it. It would put more of a strain on her, but it wouldn't make Shippou pass out again when he needed to be conscious to hide himself from Naraku when the final battle came.

FLASHBACK

"Now, Miss Kagome, are you sure about this?" a man that stood taller than her asked. He had a green tint to his skin… err, fir.

"Positive," Kagome said, standing in front of the white marble stone doors. The green man shrugged and opened the door for her to enter the dark building. Light torches flared to life along the walls as Kagome walked into the center of the room. She had learned very quickly to not be jumpy around magic, or it could come and bite her in the butt. The room wasn't exactly bare, for it had shelves upon shelves of books lining the walls, leaving the center floor clear, displaying an ornate tile mosaic. Kagome didn't pay attention as the green man shut the heavy doors behind her.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it, Kagome spun in a slow circle, her hands stretched out. "Show me what I seek." She murmured in a mantra until one book in particular glowed in her mind's eye. Making a beeline straight for the book, Kagome pulled the heavy tome from its long-time resting place. Written in a long-dead Japanese tongue, Kagome furrowed her brows as she slowly read the cover. Nodding in approval, Kagome tucked the book under her arm and headed to one of the overstuffed chairs that had a swivel board attached to make it a reading desk for the oftentime heavy books. Kagome settled in for the long-haul because she knew that once a person started reading one of the books in the forbidden library, they couldn't leave until they read what they wanted. It could sometimes take days of fasting to accomplish this task. No food or drink was allowed into the library.

Almost a week later, Kagome emerged, squinting at the sunlight even though it was twilight and there was heavy cloud cover out. The green man looked at her with something akin to relief. "You spent an awfully long time in there; did you learn what you wanted?" Kagome nodded, pulling her shawl closer and walked straight for the dorm rooms. It was too late to nip something from the kitchens, which was what she really wanted to do. She would have a hard next couple of weeks, practicing and storing energy for the task she knew that she would eventually have to do to her son. At least it wouldn't be as harsh, with him already having han-inu blood mixing into his system.

END

Kagome looked down at Shippou and stroked his hair. She could see the differences already in his hair and ears with Inuyasha's blood in him. His hair gained lighter-colored streaks, not quite a white, but more like a lighter orange in his already orange hair. His ears had also migrated slightly, gaining a more prominent point at the top and a slight point between the lobe and tip, making it look slightly boxy and like Inuyasha or her ears mid-transformation. One more dose of hanyou blood and he'd have animalistic ears for sure. As if sensing her thoughts, Shippou groaned slightly and his hand clutched at Kagome's shirt. Kagome held her breath, wondering if Shippou would actually awaken, but she let out a disappointed sigh when the kit settled down again.

Yusuke looked at his cousin studying the kit and peeled off his current flight pattern, flying away so that he could beat his wings without worrying about colliding into Kagome's wings. "I see you're busy…" he mumbled, not seeing Kagome respond in the slightest.

A moment later, Kagome tilted her wings into a gentle decent, scanning the trees for her red fiancé. She spotted Inuyasha running along the ground and dropped down, folding her wings so that she could run alongside him. The change of movement thrilled Kagome, with the uncertainty that her landing would go smoothly. It took a few moments for Inuyasha to look over at his running partner questionably and quirk an eyebrow.

"Sh-Shippou." Kagome started, stepping down in the middle of her word to launch to the next long leap. "I think he might wake up later. He stirred a little, so that's a good sign." Inuyasha nodded in agreement, looking forward.

"Getting tired?" he asked, noting her slightly fast breathing.

"N-no!" she immediately denied, not wanting Inuyasha to win, "well… kind of. Flying that high makes breathing a little hard though. And I think Shippou's grown a bit too." She hefted the kit to a different position for emphasis.

Inuyasha nodded. "Why wouldn't he? He's sleeping off a growth spurt and the adoption at the same time. No telling how much he'll grow by the time his spurt's over." Looking down at Shippou, Kagome lamented softly. Soon she wouldn't be able to carry her dear child as much.

"Don't cry momma…" Shippou mumbled in his sleep, clenching his fist against her shirt again.

Kagome smiled softly and pressed a kiss to the crown of his head. "I'm sorry Shippou, you can go back to sleep now." The kit seemed to nod, but it could have been his reaction to Kagome's movements.

"I'll hold him for a while if you're getting tired." Inuyasha offered softly, careful to not wake the kit. Kagome hesitated before nodding slightly, torn between the need of her sore arms and bonding with her kit as long as possible. They stopped running for a moment and changed hands before starting off again.

Miroku and Sango dipped low on Kirara to question what was going on. It had been several hours of straight running so far, and they were wondering why the two hanyou had stopped. Inuyasha waved off their concern and Kagome hitched a brief ride side-saddle on Kirara to get back up into the air. Pushing off of Kirara, Kagome dived and pulled up sharply to ascend quickly to Yusuke's level. In the atmosphere, the two engaged in a mock-battle that consisted of too many near-misses and acrobatics that weren't necessary. It was a giant game of air-tag, Miroku realized, watching the two and their antics. Kagome swooped down and circled Kirara a few times before touching Miroku's head.

"See if you can catch up!" she yelled over her shoulder at Yusuke, who copied her moves (including whapping Miroku over the head with his open palm).

"Hey! I need to use that later!" he yelled jokingly, rubbing his head. Kagome laughed and turned upside down before doing a barrel roll and pulling up sharply at the tree tops to accelerate forward and slightly upwards. Yusuke followed the maneuver, skimming a slightly taller tree by accident. Accelerating forward, hand over the light scratch on his abs as they healed over almost instantly, he almost ran into Kagome's back as she backpedaled mid-air. After doing a few tight flips, Yusuke came to hover as close to Kagome as he could so that he could hear her.

"Yusuke, go down and tell Inuyasha that I sense a jewel shard in that direction," Kagome pointed to the right of where they were heading. Yusuke nodded, sensing the urgency in her voice, and made a steep dive into the trees. Kagome went back to Kirara's flying position and looped over them before flying at eye level. "Jewel shard." Was all she had to say before they started to float down to Inuyasha and Yusuke's position on the ground. Yusuke was holding Shippou as Inuyasha pulled out his blade, transforming it for the prospective fight.

"I'll take Shippou and stay in the air." Yusuke nodded and handed the kit over. Kagome borrowed Kirara as a temporary springboard into the air as she saw that Puu was already descending from its height. Where the phoenix was so high up, even the best demon would have a difficulty seeing the bird with its blue coloring. Kagome landed on its back and used her wings as a cape to keep Shippou warm in the slightly cooler weather.

Back on the ground, Yusuke tucked his wings tight against his back so that he could fight on the ground. The wings molded themselves to stay hidden a bit better than Kagome's did. "It's coming." He murmured, bringing up his fist in the gun position.

"You can sense the shards like lady Kagome?" Miroku asked, clearly curious.

"Not really, but I can tell where the energy's coming from. I won't be able to point it out as well though." Yusuke closed his eyes halfway and tilted his head as if he was listening to something. "The energy's coming along the trees and it seems… human?" Yusuke wandered out loud. The energy of the jewel shard was exactly like Kagome's aura, but the aura surrounding it was completely human, with no other types of energy detectable. Heck, even the human's life energy was weak enough that it shouldn't be able to move. "Young… male." Yusuke commented, pulling down his firing fist just in case.

"Kohaku!" Sango yelled, jumping off of the hovering Kirara to stand next to Yusuke.

"Ko-?" Yusuke mumbled, remembering something that Kagome had told him over one of her e-mails about the demon slayer's brother. Not a moment later, a young boy older than Souta jumped out of one of the trees, holding a chain-sickle loosely. Except for a small ponytail, the two boys could have been siblings. The boy wore a black cat suit with teal and amber armor and a mask over his lower face.

The boy, Kohaku, pointed his sickle at Inuyasha. "Master Naraku is waiting for you." He said in a monotone, although his eyes gave away the faintest glimmer of life as they flickered over Sango. Sagging his shoulders for a moment, the boy turned and led them off the path to a relatively large clearing that seemed to have seen many battles already. Giving another look over his shoulder, Kohaku sprinted off to stand by a tree.

Looking around, Yusuke nearly laughed. It was Genkai-baba's training grounds… about 500 years from now. The surrounding trees were dead, stripped of all bark and leaves except for a few that clung to the branches desperately. The ground looked solid, but dead. Yusuke knew that the sporadic mud puddles were actually connected underground to make the ground a living marsh. Flattened yellow grass hid the majority of the dangerous areas. In all, it looked like this was a thriving part of the forest not too long ago, only to be killed instantly by… something.

Puu coasted down, landing in the spacious clearing with Kagome on its back. She jumped down, her wings covering herself and Shippou like a black cloak. "This isn't good. I didn't expect this to happen already. Wasn't Sesshoumaru-sama supposed to meet up with us before we battled?" Kagome asked, jogging up to the others. Hissing slightly, Kagome put her hand to her temple and looked around. "Would you all just shut up!" she yelled into what seemed like plain air. After a moment, she relaxed her shoulders and put her hand down.

Yusuke gave her a knowing look while the others looked at her like she was insane. "The others killed here are warning us, what were they saying?" Yusuke asked gently, looking around at shimmering areas that represented wandering spirits.

She looked down, her ears swiveling to hear the spectral sounds. "'The death-purveyor comes'" Kagome quoted, looking up in shock and running back to Puu, using her haori to wrap Shippou up and secure him on Puu's back gently. "Puu, you know what to do." The Phoenix bobbed his head and took off, only to be blasted back by an invisible air wall that hit the rest of the gang moments later, sending them flying back. Screaming, Kagome hit one of the dead trees between her wings, the gust nearly ripping them out of her back. After a few moments, Kagome slid to the ground, her wings lying nearly-useless at her sides.

"Everyone okay?" Inuyasha asked, from where he had embedded his sword into the ground. He got groans from everyone and nodded. "Good, stand your ground!" he called, seeing the treetops being buffeted by the next blast.

"Puu! Up now!" Yusuke yelled over to the bird, who had just righted itself. Puu nodded, opening his wings to be more prepared with the next blast. With a screech, Puu was thrown violently into the air before synchronizing with the current and circling higher. The two humans were braced against Kirara and a few trees, while Yusuke grabbed onto the earth and tucked his wings in exceptionally tight. Kagome was against the tree and Inuyasha had his sword. By the third blast, Kagura had ridden in on her feather and was in hot pursuit of Puu. Looking up to Puu and over to Kagome, Yusuke growled. The wind was keeping them from taking off and attacking the sky demon, even though they had plenty of room to take off, the wind would toss him into the trees like a rag doll and likely break the fragile appendages.

Timing himself between wind blasts, Inuyasha pulled Tetsusaiga out of the ground and sent an attack toward Kagura, who laughed as it bounced off a barrier that was surrounding… them? "Ku, Ku, Ku… I see that you have discovered my barrier, little hanyou." A smooth tenor voice praised, seeming to come from everywhere at once. Inuyasha looked around, trying to pinpoint where the despised voice originated.

"Come out her, you bastard!" he growled, crouching against the wind so that he could freely swing Tetsusaiga.

"Now come, Inuyasha, what sport would that be?" Naraku cooed walking out of the dense forest's fog. He held a bundle in his arms, wrapped in a familiar green haori with orange blossoms on the edges. Kagome growled and stood up straight, her aura deflecting the wind around her. Eyes red, Kagome walked forward towards the evil hanyou.

"Give me Shippou!" she growled out, holding out her hand. Naraku smirked and rubbed Shippou against his bare cheek, several of his tentacles pointing to vital spots on the little boy.

"Now, is he really that special to you?" Naraku held the kit up by the tail, letting the haori fall away, and swung him, barely missing the sharp spikes at the end of his tentacles with each swing. Kagome growled loudly and her tail bushed up in fear. Her eyes, although red, swam with tears. "I see that he is." Naraku chuckled, "then I propose a trade. The shards for your precious fox, unhurt… well, mostly," the evil man sneered, shaking the kit by the tail, inciting a whimper from the unconscious kit. Kagome whimpered as well, looking downward. She could tell without looking that the others were just as appalled by the trade.

"Fine." Kagome spat out, pulling a chain from under her halter-top and breaking the chain. Yusuke held his hand out in a silent protest, wide-eyed. She pulled out what looked like a golden mass of a fine chain and rubbed her thumb over it, muttering. "We'll play it your way then!" Kagome yelled, throwing the knot towards Naraku, changing to a glass bottle of jewel shards as it landed at his feet. "Now give me back Shippou!"

Naraku couldn't help but laugh as he bent down to pick up the shards. "Foolish, naïve little hanyou, did you really expect me to give you back your kitsune? But since you held up your end of the bargain…" Naraku smashed the glass bottle and combined the shards with his mostly whole Shikon, forming a whole Shikon No Tama. "I will give you your kit back." And with that, Naraku dropped Shippou into a mud puddle.

Kagome screamed and ran forward as Shippou disappeared beneath the surface completely. "Shippou!" she screamed as she reached the edge of the sinkhole and reached down to find nothing.

Before she could dive in, Naraku wrenched one of her wings, pulling her back and shaking his finger, "shame, shame, we mustn't leave an enemy to kill more of your pack, now should we?" he asked with a patronizing sneer.

Ripping her wing out of Naraku's grasp, Kagome became ragged as her tail and hair puffed and streaked with white, her eyes turning white with light blue pupils out of grief. Blindly, Kagome stretched her hand toward Naraku as he laughed, clenching her fist and turning the air.

"You will regret this." Kagome said monotonously, standing up. "By the power of Gabriel and Artemis, I will kill you." Releasing the hold on her powers, the golden knot expanded from where it was disguised as the jewel shards and enveloped the entire sphere in a writhing golden mass, slashing Naraku as he tried to wipe the metallic vines off the jewel.

Looking up at the sky, the sun set quickly as the moon came up, leading the stars. Kagome closed her eyes and held her arms open to welcome the celestial being. Looking back down at Naraku, Kagome's eyes glowed like reflections of the moon as a barrier was set between the others and herself so they would not be injured. Holding her hand out, the golden knot unraveled itself, turning into the transparent celestial robe of Kaguya. The last of the knot left Naraku's hand, revealing that the Shikon had disappeared as well. In a scream of fury, Naraku swept forward his tentacles and attacked. Kagome brushed away the deadly points with a wave of her hand and a small, shield-like barrier. The pink robe brushed against Kagome's wings, healing them as good as new as they gained white eye-shaped spots to match the white streaks in her tail and hair.

"You will pay Naraku, a life for lives." Kagome hissed as the robe came to tie itself in front of her belly button after looping over her fully outstretched wings. The Shikon re-formed itself, molding over the knot as a kind of brooch. Raising her wings over her head, Kagome growled to attempt to cow the demon. Naraku, smug as ever, stood still.

"Little hanyou, do you intend to make me run away? Even without the Shikon, I am more powerful than you." Naraku narrowed his crimson eyes when Kagome didn't back down either. "You cannot kill me. You, and all of your friends, have tried to kill me. What makes this time so different?"

"Because you made it personal; you killed my son!" Kagome howled, nearly crumpling. Naraku stepped forward, nearly nose-to-nose with the miko, and stroked her cheek free of tears.

"There, there little monstrosity, you'll soon meet your son again." He cooed, scraping his claws against her cheek as he slapped her down.

Inuyasha and Yusuke stood outside the barrier, trying to see what was happening through the opaque energy wall. Kneeling, Yusuke placed his hand on the barrier and closed his eyes, attempting to 'see' inside with the energy markings. He could only pick Kagome's energy faintly on the other side, with most of it being put into the barrier. Through his angelic connection with Kagome, Yusuke felt the harsh sting of nails being embedded in his cheek. Pulling away his hand, he saw fresh blood that came from the cheek. "Kagome got hurt." Yusuke informed his companion.

"What?" Inuyasha growled harshly, looking at the young war-hanyou.

"Through our connection… Kagome was hit in the cheek," Yusuke clarified, trying to wipe the blood away with his hand.

Inuyasha looked at Yusuke weirdly before asking quietly, "Is that two-ways, or is it just you get hurt whenever Kagome does?"

"Both ways, why-"

"Send her some energy then." Inuyasha demanded. Yusuke's eyes lit up as he caught on. Closing his eyes, he pressed his bloody hand into the barrier and released some of his energy to Kagome. Her aura seemed to suck at his energy hungrily, nearly taking all of it. Inuyasha caught the boy as he nearly collapsed. With a grim look, Inuyasha pulled him back toward Sango, Miroku and Kirara.

Sitting down with the others, Inuyasha followed Sango's line of sight to her brother. The boy seemed as if he was sleeping, slumped against the tree like that, but they almost completely knew, without checking, that Kohaku's spirit had left when Naraku had shown up and taken the last jewel shards. Miroku had a sympathetic arm draped over her shoulders as Sango shook from keeping back her tears. There would be time to mourn when Kagome came back alive.

Inside, Kagome could feel the others trying to reach her. A tear slid down her injured cheek, mixing with her blood, as she said a silent prayer. Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango and now little Shippou-kun, all of them ruined, possibly killed, because of Naraku. This had gone on too long and it was time to end it, before any more lives were taken. Kagome stood up and wiped away the blood on her cheek, pressing it against her lips. "I vow, by my blood alone, that you will be the only one that will not leave this clearing today." Absorbing the energy that Yusuke gave her, Kagome closed her eyes and screamed. Glowing white-hot, Kagome seemed to faint dead away to Naraku.

The barrier faded to being translucent and the others watched Kagome's fall and supposed defeat. In anger, Inuyasha pulled Tetsusaiga and it transformed to its large form, glowing an eerie red. He raised the sword to strike and break the barrier when a hand touched his arm. "No, don't. You break that barrier, you'll break all of Kagome's energy," Yusuke panted, his eyes seemingly unfocused, "Kagome's still alive, but her spirit's left her body temporarily. If you break the barrier right now, Kagome's chance of returning to her body is slim to none." Yusuke revealed grimly. It was one of the bad parts of being part angelic. Yusuke's unfocused eyes watched as a white and blue toned spirit-Kagome strode gracefully toward the demon the others were calling Naraku.

Kilala seemed to be the only other one able to see Kagome on the spiritual plane, but they all heard her as she spoke. "I see now Onigumo, the spider that has possessed you. Do you wish to be free now, and rest for a while?" her voice seemed to chime like bells on the very wind itself.

"No matter how many times you kill me, I will come back!" Naraku hissed, trying to see where the miko-hanyou's voice was coming from since the body had not moved since. Kagome shook her head and walked straight up to Naraku, walking through his protective net of tentacles and nearly freezing them and burning them at the same time.

"Onigumo, your heart, where is it?" Kagome asked. Naraku clenched his chest and looked down, a hand-shaped print formed on his shirt in frost and flame.

"Worthless miko, can't you sense that Onigumo's heart no longer is here?" Naraku sneered, covering up the slight panic that had invaded his voice.

"This 'worthless miko' sees that you no longer had your heart when you sold your body to a spider, but your soul still resides within this flesh." Naraku grimaced and bent over as the handprint on his chest started burning through his flesh. He put up a barrier, but it only ceased anything on the physical plane, such as the fly that was unfortunate enough to be caught in the larger barrier when this started.

"You will not kill me, hanyou!" he rebuked, closing his eyes and turning inward. Outside the barriers, Miroku yelled in pain, holding his right wrist. Even with the rosary beads surrounding and sealing off the Kazaana, Miroku felt the pull and enlargement of the cursed wind tunnel. Running across the field, Sango would have followed except for Inuyasha holding her back.

"What would Kagome think if she lost any more of us?" Inuyasha hissed, holding onto Sango tight as her body trembled and tears escaped her eyes.

Hearing Sango's wails, Kagome narrowed her spectral eyes and gave one last push, searing a bloodless hole through his chest and ripping his soul out of the flesh. "You have spent too much time on this plane Onigumo, be cleansed!" she yelled, punching Onigumo's spirit in the face, shattering him to the four corners of the spirit realm.

Surprisingly enough, Naraku's body continued to stay standing, but tilted dangerously to the side with an ugly sneer on his face. "You haven't yet defeated me, half-breed!" the winds of Miroku's Kazaana increased, starting to strip trees of what few leaves were left on them. Kagome looked back at the demon and glared. Naraku seemed to be melting… or more like separating into hundreds of demons. Becoming overwhelmed, Kagome dropped the barrier after sending a brief mental image-message to Yusuke. The war hanyou nodded and braced, ready to use one of his attacks. Taking one last look at the disintegrating demon in her spiritual form, Kagome slid back into her mortal body. Coughing violently, Kagome sat up and strung one of her arrows to point at one particular demon.

"You are the true Naraku, are you not?" Kagome asked, narrowing her eyes at the relatively small demon. It looked like an overgrown tarantula. Overhead, Yusuke sprayed a series of spirit bullets into the air, killing off the demons that tried to escape Naraku's larger barrier. Giving Sango a meaningful look, Inuyasha released the slayer and readied Tetsusaiga for the Kaze no Kizu. Striking the sword against the ground, invisible claws gouged at the ground as the attack dissolved the majority of the demons. Even in his haze of fast-approaching death, Miroku used his cursed hand to his advantage and swallowed a large number of the simple, low level demons despite the amount of Samiyoshou intertwined between the demons.

The large spider clicked its mandibles and tried to scurry off, but not before Kagome shot it close-range with her arrow. With the spider gone, the organization of the other demons disbanded also as the barrier fell. They no longer attacked the humanoids on the ground, but started to fight among themselves, killing each other. During this process, Miroku's wind tunnel dispersed also, leaving a whole hand in its wake.

Nearly sobbing with relief, Sango ran up to the monk and fell into his arms, knocking him to the ground in a flurry of kisses. Smiling, all Miroku could do was stroke Sango's hair and murmur soft assurances that this time Naraku was not coming back. Almost hesitantly, Sango touched Miroku's whole hand in wonder, the soft flesh real enough by her standards. Sobbing again, Sango cried into Miroku's purple and black robes. The day taking a toll on her emotions as she finally was able to let it all out.

Across the clearing, Kagome was sobbing for an entirely different reason. She knelt at the edge of the pool that Shippou had disappeared into, knowing that she would never see her baby again. Destroying the last minor demons, Inuyasha sheathed his sword and knelt behind Kagome, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Kagome turned and threw herself into the older hanyou's arms, sobbing all her grief, her eyes yet to turn back to their normal color. "Hey Kagome," Yusuke asked soberly, walking up behind the hanyou couple, "I've fought in this clearing before and I know this pond. I can get Shippou back for you, okay?" he walked around Kagome's limp wings and kneeled by her side, brushing her cheek with a calloused finger.

A barely perceptible nod was all Yusuke needed to kick off his shoes and dive head-first into the murky water. Kagome watched the water settle out of the corner of her blurry eyesight. If she didn't know where the water was, she would have easily fallen in after Shippou. The pieces of dead flora and dirt floating on top made it look like many of the shallow mud puddles she would see after a rainstorm. The water ceased to move entirely, except for the random gust of wind that would ripple the surface. Such an innocent looking thing: the mud puddle. She remembered that she once heard that a person could drown in four inches of water or less.

After a few minutes, Kagome became worried because of the water's lack of movement. "Yusuke!" Kagome yelled, sitting up in Inuyasha's lap. It had been too long, what if he had drowned? Shippou and Kohaku dying were enough for the day, if even too much. "Yusuke don't scare me!" Kagome yelled, looking around at every mud puddle.

A muddy hand reached out of the ground, grabbing onto anything it could reach. Kagome screeched as the hand grabbed her feathers and pulled hard. Whipping around to pull her abused wing out of the _thing's_ grasp, Kagome's eyes widened as Yusuke hauled himself up from a smaller puddle. The war hanyou climbed out of the puddle, gasping and sputtering for air and grasping a bundle as if his life depended on it. Flopping onto the ground, Yusuke set the bundle down safely away from the edge. He looked up at Kagome sadly, his wings dripping wet lie at his sides uselessly. "Have you ever tried to swim with wings before? It's harder than it looks!" he grinned barely before crumpling onto the ground, only half out of the puddle. The energy transfer from earlier and the rescue attempt taking the last of his energy.

Kagome attempted to smile back gratefully, but gave up as she crawled over to Shippou's prone form. His pale skin made him seem like he was still underwater, and his hair was plastered to his head, his bow gone. She reached out for the kit almost timidly, afraid that he would disappear if she touched him. Wailing in grief, Kagome gathered the kit into her arms and curled her body around him. Rocking gently, she put her cheek to his tiny torso, trying to hear his heart. Hiccupping between sobs, Kagome felt a light touch on her shoulder moments before being enveloped in the red fabric that encased Inuyasha's arms. The hanyou knelt between Kagome's lax wings, trying to give the younger one some sense of comfort without stepping on her feathers.

Yusuke sat up, spreading his wings flat along the ground so they could dry as he slumped forward. "If it helps," Yusuke's eyes flashed the bluish white of spirit-sight before returning to their ruddy brown, "His soul hasn't left yet." Looking around, Yusuke spotted a figure in white walk out of the forest and toward the group. Although powerful, Yusuke could sense no extreme ill-intent coming from the demon. The figure looked back at Yusuke, nodding slightly before turning to the two humans.

"Human, where is Naraku?" the white hair and clothed demon asked, holding his sword in his one hand.

Miroku shook his head from where he sat holding Sango, "the Naraku you speak of is gone. Kagome-sama destroyed him not fifteen minutes ago." He held up his whole right hand as proof. Nodding, Sesshoumaru stabbed his sword into the ground and drew his smaller, less used katana from its saya. Walking over to the younger teen boy, he narrowed his eyes and slashed him several times with the katana. The screeches of several underworld imps were only heard by two as the boy stirred into living. Turning away, Sesshoumaru walked over to the three hanyou.

"Miko, you will release the kitsune." He demanded, pointing the tip of his katana at an imp that was trying to get to Shippou. Kagome shook her head and held Shippou tighter. Sesshoumaru poked the underworld imp and it screeched, slashing its claws at the offensive weapon.

From his slumped position, Yusuke looked at the underworld imp also. "I don't know what this guy wants, but Shippou's soul is about to be taken if you don't do what he says," he suggested, watching the imp crawl closer to Shippou's body.

"Miko, release the kitsune or feel Tensaiga." Sesshoumaru reiterated, raising the katana to her neck. Inuyasha looked up at his half-brother before grabbing Kagome's wrists gently. Murmuring gentle assurances, he peeled her hands away to reveal the kit lying in her lap, limp. Holding both of her hands in one of his, Inuyasha gently moved Shippou to the cold ground away from Kagome. Sobbing, Kagome pounded her back against Inuyasha's chest in grief; her mutterings of her son's name over and over barely intelligible. Hushing her, Inuyasha's hand rubbed her back and traveled up to rub one of her ears also as they rocked side to side.

In the meantime, Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and slashed at the imps after the kitsune's soul, killing the death creatures instantly. Sheathing his sword, Sesshoumaru turned and walked away, grabbing his more useful sword on the way. Stopping and glancing over his shoulder, Sesshoumaru grunted and nodded, "this Sesshoumaru's services are no longer needed." He walked back into the forest, blending in with the fog that seemed to cling to the trees.

Kohaku blinked his eyes open and Shippou stirred, rolling to his side and coughing up water. Kagome lunged forward and grabbed Shippou, squeezing him tight in a hug. Gasping for breath, Shippou grasped at Kagome's shirt. "Momma…Can't…Breathe!" lessening her grip ever-so-slightly, Kagome stood up and started to twirl around; happy tears flying off her face. He wings were pulled in loosely, the joints held high over her head so that she wouldn't trip over the feathers. Looking up as he was being twirled around, Shippou noticed Kagome's wings and his mouth gaped open. "Tenshi…" he whispered, reaching up to touch the appendages, "am I dead?"

Kagome stopped twirling and looked Shippou in the eye. Following his line of sight, she smiled as she flexed her wings. "Do you like them?" she asked as she brought her wings forward as a sort of cloak over her shoulders, "you can touch them if you want." Kagome brought Shippou up and kissed the crown of his moist head, "no, you're not dead; you're very much alive!" Kagome hugged Shippou once again as he stroked Kagome's wing tentatively. Kagome giggled and nudged Shippou's head with her cheek gently, "do you want to fly?" Shippou's wide eyes were all she needed as an answer as she stretched her wings out fully.

"You sure you should do that?" Yusuke asked from where he was sitting, trying to wring out water from his feathers.

"I'll be fine Yus-kun! It'll just be a short one!" Kagome affirmed, skipping over to where Kirara was waiting in her large form. Puu had transformed into his smaller form when Yusuke had transferred his energy to Kagome earlier. Sitting astride on Kirara, they took off high enough for Kagome to launch. "Hold on tight!" was the only warning she gave before diving off the were-cat. Shippou shrieked in joy as he held on tight to Kagome's shoulder as she free-dived toward the ground before snapping over her wings. With a small grunt, Kagome beat her wings and leveled off her flight. She floated around for about five minutes before wheeling down to the ground, much to Shippou's protest.

Landing not as gracefully as she could, Kagome lied on her back with her wings spread out to catch the last of the day's light. Giving Shippou another hug, she let him sit on her belly as she tried to catch her breath. Turning her head, Kagome peered over the flattened grass at the other drama unfolding in the clearing and smiled. Currently, brother and sister were embracing and tears flowed from both their eyes.

* * *

"S-sister?" Kohaku asked, his head pounding to break out of the cloud that enveloped his mind. Placing his hand on his temple, he used his other hand to push himself upright from where he sat against the tree. Taking a few tentative steps, Kohaku stumbled and was caught by Sango. "I'm sorry sister." Kohaku murmured, weakly trying to pull away.

Sango shook her head and held on to her brother tighter. "It's okay Kohaku; you were under Naraku's control. He's gone now, so you don't have to worry. I'm here now, Sango's here." She murmured more to herself than Kohaku.

"No, I wasn't." Kohaku said coldly, looking away, "I wasn't controlled by Naraku since I could remember."

"You remember… everything?" Sango asked quietly. Kohaku's silence was her answer.

"I remember killing father… and the others… and all those villagers to get the baby…" he grew quieter at each admission. Sango dropped her arms, crying silently.

Shuffling back, Kohaku bent down and touched his forehead to the dirt in a bow. "Sister, please forgive me. I didn't have a choice." In the silence, he looked up nervously, only to be brought up by a fierce hug by his sister.

"I forgive you," Sango whispered, touching her cheek to his, "we have to forgive each other now. Please forgive me also." Kohaku nodded and settled his head on Sango's shoulder, wetting the fabric from his tears.

Miroku touched each of their shoulders gently in a sort of embrace. "Now is the time for celebration, not mourning, is it not Inuyasha?" he asked, turning toward the hanyou who was watching Kagome circle overhead with Shippou on her back.

"Keh," Inuyasha agreed, nodding his head absently. The sunset was fading and it was getting harder to pick her out in the sky despite her bright coloring and black wings. The colors seemed to blend perfectly in the sunset with its orange and pink clouds against the dark blue sky beyond.

"You want her to come down too, huh?" Yusuke asked from the ground, watching Kagome also. Inuyasha nodded again and Yusuke sighed. "Don't worry, she'll be back soon. Her wing-beats are slowing down." Just as he said that, Kagome spiraled down and crashed, stumbling and falling to her hands and knees with a grunt. Flopping to her back, Kagome hugged the kit and spread her arms over her wings, both stretched out on the flattened grass. Smiling tiredly, Kagome turned her head toward the trio of humans.

Yusuke struggled to stand up, his wings dragging on the ground as he walked over to Kagome and sat down cross-legged, hard. Shippou saw the strange man and spread his arms wide in a protective gesture, "don't touch my Momma!" the boy growled, glaring at the demon with black wings. Kagome looked over at Yusuke and smiled, patting Shippou on the head.

"That's a good hanyou; he just doesn't like to show it." Kagome grinned as Yusuke turned his playful glare from Shippou to Kagome. "Yusuke, Shippou. Shippou-kun, this is Yusuke, my cousin on my human side."

"But he's a demon?" Shippou crossed his arms in a thoughtful gesture.

"Hanyou. My old man… ancestor… was a war demon. We're double cousins Kags, remember?" Kagome rolled her head back to the stars, nodding after a moment. Raizen and Reichou were foster brothers—that meant cousins on their dad's side—and Gin and Atsuko were sisters—cousins on mom's side. Yep, double cousins.

"Actually, that makes me your Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great—"

"I get it already!"

"Great Aunt." Kagome smirked as Yusuke rolled his eyes, punching her on the arm lightly. Yusuke shoved his hand in her face, palm up. Kagome looked from the hand to Yusuke and back questionably.

"Come on already," Yusuke wiggled his fingers, "they're heavy, we're tired and it's going to get cold later. I want to put my shirt back on."

Kagome rolled her eyes and sat up, using Yusuke's proffered arm as leverage. Closing her eyes, Kagome squeezed Yusuke's hand as they did a small energy transfer. The wings shrunk almost immediately, drawn into the skin where a pair of small angel wing tattoo affixed to each shoulder blade with a small bump underneath each where the wing would emerge. Wavering slightly, Kagome put her hand to her temple and grinned. "Good thing it won't take as much next time to transform." She informed, rubbing her arms. "You were right; it is a little cold out now, ne?" during the reversal process, Kagome's tail and markings had disappeared also. Inuyasha stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Kagome, picking her up in the bridal style.

"You're lighter now." Inuyasha commented, adjusting her so that she could hook an arm around his neck. Kagome shrugged and yawned widely, showing off her petite fangs. Shippou jumped up and settled himself on Kagome's belly before laying his head over her heart. Glancing down, Inuyasha decided not to comment…for now. The kit would catch hell later though; it was inevitable.

"You shouldn't be surprised," Yusuke commented beside Inuyasha, rolling his shoulders, "those wings weigh a lot, especially when you're as tired as we are right now. It feels good to have some weight off your back sometimes." Kagome nodded at Yusuke's attempt of a joke, her eyes closed with one hand on Shippou's head and the other clenching Inuyasha's red haori.

Walking past the silent humans, Yusuke grabbed Kagome's bag and nearly stumbled backwards with the weight of the thing. Miroku took Yusuke's bag and slung it over his shoulder as Puu and Kilala perched on either of Sango's shoulders. Kohaku followed silently, head hung, at the back of the group. Looking over her shoulder, Sango caught her brother's eyes and gestured for him to hurry up to walk next to her. Grinning, he jogged and walked next to Sango for the first time in too long.

"Hey, Shippou-kun?" Kagome asked, her eyes half-mast as she stroked the peach-fuzz on Shippou's ear. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired momma, and a little weird." Shippou scrunched his face up slightly, furrowing his brows.

Kagome smiled and smoothed his brow with the pad of her thumb, "don't worry, you'll get used to it." Kagome's world went black as she passed into the world of oblivion for the night. The others set up camp for the night in a clearing further down the road when Yusuke passed out for good on his feet, stumbling over a tree root with a snore. With a look from Inuyasha, the others settled down for the night after lighting a small fire. Inuyasha nodded and jumped into the tree that Yusuke had tripped over, adjusting Kagome and Shippou on his lap so all three could sleep warmly and comfortably for the night.

* * *

THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER!!!

Well, I hope this is long enough for you. I thought that since I finally would destroy Naraku, that you deserved a longer chapter. Gabriel and Artemis… they're influence from Kagome's 'Avalon' time. Gabriel is one of the Arch Angels that is the patron of justice or something like that (sorry, I can't remember exactly). Artemis is the Greek warrior goddess that protected the forests and mothers and their small children. One of her symbols is the moon, so I thought that was appropriate. If anyone wants to do artwork for me, I'd gladly accept it! Angel Yusuke and Kagome would be a cool one to have especially. Which reminds me, I don't own Inuyasha and the others, nor Yusuke and Puu.

Also, I would also like to recommend a story to you all. It's about an ancestor of Inuyasha and how he deals with the hardships of a demon court and marrying a human woman. Read First Alliances by MissLonelyNights (After meeting Izayoi, Inuyasha's father thinks back to another human and demon relationship in his family from long ago, born from an ancient legend, and how he came to form his compassionate feelings toward humans.)

Dark


	37. Hickie

Disclaimer: you do know by now that a woman named Rumiko Takahashi owns Inuyasha, right?

Marks 37: Hickie

Last time: Kagome smiled and smoothed his brow with the pad of her thumb, "don't worry, you'll get used to it." Kagome's world went black as she passed into the world of oblivion for the night. The others set up camp for the night in a clearing further down the road when Yusuke passed out for good on his feet, stumbling over a tree root with a snore. With a look from Inuyasha, the others settled down for the night after lighting a small fire. Inuyasha nodded and jumped into the tree that Yusuke had tripped over, adjusting Kagome and Shippou on his lap so all three could sleep warmly and comfortably for the night.

This time: Yusuke sniggered. This would be great! Uncharacteristically, Kagome and Inuyasha were the last ones still asleep in the tree. He could still feel the fatigue that yesterday's activities had put on his body, but not so much to prevent him from pulling a prank or two...

Stroking the small lump on his back, Yusuke closed his eyes briefly and concentrated on his task. Centering his energy, he was able to poke the very tip of his wing out of his body, enough to pluck one of his wingtip feathers with a small wince. Exhaling, the wingtip retracted back into the tattoo that embellished his shoulder blade. Examining the black feather with a small grin, Yusuke twirled it briefly to let the spiritual goop dry and fall off of it. Wrinkling his nose, he flaked the last of the goop off of the feather before preening it so that it looked perfect. Standing up from where he was sitting at the base of the tree, he winced as he heard his back give a series of snaps and pops.

Looking up warily, Yusuke saw a pair of tired and curious emerald eyes looking over a green and orange-clad leg. Smirking, Yusuke held up the feather and put his finger to his lips in a silent gesture. Smothering his giggles, the kitsune wiggled his way out of Kagome's grasp and further out on the branch. Aforementioned hanyou whimpered slightly before turning into the other hanyou's warmth. Yusuke grinned and shook his head. In moving, Kagome had inadvertently exposed the bottom of her bare foot.

Over time, Kagome had worn her loafers to nearly nothing and had learned that she could actually keep her balance a little better without the clunky shoes when she was fighting in her hanyou form. Not really wanting to explain that fact to her mother, Kagome kept her shoes and socks in her backpack and only wore them when she was going back to the 'modern' side of the well. She could say without hesitation that she now understood why Inuyasha despised shoes as much as he did. Also, han-inu had claws on their toes also and that did nothing except wear the shoes out faster.

Standing out of his cousin's kicking range, Yusuke stretched out his hand, feather grasped firmly, and stroked the bottom of her foot. To the amusement of the two humans sitting by the fire, Kagome only twitched her foot like she would flick a bug off her ear. Rolling his eyes, Yusuke repeated the motion only to get a slightly bigger twitch. Looking up, he was met by a pair of bored amber eyes. Grinning innocently back up at Inuyasha, Yusuke stroked Kagome's bare foot again, this time garnering a small kick.

Muttering into Kagome's ear, Inuyasha adjusted the girl so that her feet weren't dangling off of the branch as much. Kagome flicked her ear, accidentally hitting Inuyasha's nose, at whatever the mutterings were. Scrunching up his nose to try to stave off a sneeze, Inuyasha turned his head off to the side. His eyes widened, sneeze completely forgotten, and his body stiffened at the sight that wound itself between the trees of the forest.

'K-Kikyo…' he thought in frozen disbelief. The glowing white snake-like Shini-dama-chuu wove in-between the trees in a sort of 'follow me' gesture. Looking at Kagome, Inuyasha tried to ignore the soul collectors as they weaved closer and further away. "Kagome, it's almost time to go." Inuyasha muttered, nudging the crown of her head with his nose.

Down below, Yusuke stroked the bottom of her foot again, having to get closer to do so in the process. Giving a mighty kick, Kagome's foot connected with Yusuke's head with a grunt. Sitting up in a startled way, Kagome looked down at Yusuke, who was holding the feather midway to stroking her foot again. Giving a sheepish grin, Yusuke shrugged and tried to hide the feather behind his back. Growling down at the Tantei, Kagome moved out of Inuyasha's lap and onto the ground, giving a feral grin as the only warning before giving chase.

Grinning widely, Yusuke laughed and stayed just out of Kagome's reach. Sango laughed softly as the two acted like children. As her laugh died down, Sango poked at the embers of the fire as she glanced at her younger brother sleeping against one of the trees. A discreet smile graced her features in silent thanks that maybe Kohaku would be able to lead his own life now, with his own decisions. The master of his own fate now, that was all Sango wished for her brother now. With a content sigh, Sango leaned over slightly to rest against Miroku. In response, Miroku kissed the crown of her head, clenching his right fist with a smirk. With his curse gone, he could now do what he wanted to do: marry the lovely and beautiful woman of his heart, his soul mate, Sango.

Dropping down from the tree, Inuyasha sat in his usual position, hugging Tetsusaiga possessively. Through his nonchalant behavior, he watched warily as the soul collectors came closer with each pass. His eyes sliding over to Kagome—his one true mate—and smiled as she smiled. Snapping out of his reverie, he grabbed a fistful of orange fuzz as Shippou used his head as a step from the tree. "And just what was that?" Inuyasha growled out softly, looking the kit in the eyes.

Looking anywhere but at Inuyasha, Shippou whimpered and dry-washed his hands. "Sorry," he muttered softly, "… father." Mouthing the word in slight shock, Inuyasha let his grip slacken and let him drop the last few inches to the ground.

Regaining his composure, Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "You're getting too big to do that, got it? What if it was Kagome you landed on?" Shippou ducked his head, "and none of this father stuff… that's what you called your first dad." He mumbled uncomfortably. The fact that he actually had adopted Shippou as his son sinking in.

"What are those?" Yusuke asked. He had stopped running and was pointing at a floating snake-like creature. He didn't feel any demonic energy coming from the creature… or any energy at all, come to think about it. Turning to Kagome, Inuyasha watched a myriad of emotions cross her features before settling on a cold mask.

"Go." She intoned, turning away, "just go already." Hugging herself, she looked out into the forest the opposite direction, digging her claws into her arms as a way to take away the emotional pain. Standing up, Inuyasha stepped toward Kagome, his arm reaching out. Energy crackled around her as she pinned Inuyasha with an icy glare. "Kikyo's waiting. We wouldn't want her to get upset, would we?" turning back around, Kagome stared out into the trees, her head held high. With a whine, Inuyasha dropped his hand and leapt out of the clearing to follow the Shini-dama-chuu.

"Kagome…?"

"We should eat and get ready to go." She said in a falsely bright tone, "Inuyasha will want to leave when he gets back." Looking back at their individual tasks, Sango and Miroku nodded.

"Kagome?" Yusuke touched he shoulder and she flinched, looking away and brushing away the beginning of tears.

"What?" her voice quivered, trying to hide the tears on her face. Ignoring the small burns breaking out over his body from her snapping energy, Yusuke gently hugged Kagome from behind, rocking her gently. Resting his chin on her shoulder, Yusuke closed his eyes as he tried to soothe her rampant emotions. Her knees giving out, Yusuke held on and brought them down to the ground gently.

"Those are the soul collectors that you told me about." He stated more than asked. Kagome nodded and tried to pull away. Yusuke held on tighter as he pulled Kagome into his lap. "You don't have to say anything." Kagome sniffled and nodded again, resting her head in the crook of his neck. Humming softly, Yusuke rubbed Kagome's back and rocked her gently.

"I'm so stupid," she mumbled, diving back into herself. "Why am I still crying when I know that he'll go every time? It's not like it'll ever be different. I'm just her stupid reincarnation and a jewel shard detector, and I can't even do that right." Yusuke looked over to Sango in a pleading look; she'd never really told him much on this love triangle. Her hand fell to rest on the hollow above her breast, clutching instinctively for the bottle that usually held the Shikon no Kakera (Shikon shards). Sitting up with a gasp, Kagome started frantically searching around the camp.

"What are you doing?" Sango asked, watching the hanyou girl shuffle around on her hands and knees, muttering.

"They're gone! The one thing that I can do, and they're gone!"

"The shards?"

"Yes! Now help me look!" Kagome screeched, throwing the contents of her backpack everywhere in search for the missing fragments.

Miroku held Sango back as she jumped to help hunting for the jewel. "Lady Kagome, did you pick it up after the battle yesterday."

Looking uncertain, Kagome shook her head before her eyes widened immeasurably. "I have to go!" she jumped up and ran the direction that the battle had taken place in.

* * *

"Kikyo."

"What are your intentions, Inuyasha?" the cold priestess asked, looking over from where she laid against a sprawling branch of a bushing tree.

Inuyasha stepped forward, his hand hesitant to touch the dead love, "intentions? What are you talking about Kikyo?"

"Your intentions with my reincarnation, Inuyasha," she inspected a large red flower that she plucked from the tree, "do you honestly believe that she will be happy with you?"

"I …don't know…" he looked at his feet, dirty from running around barefoot. There were stains on his fire-rat robes also: the blood and mud of their travels. There was nothing he could really offer her, except his protection. They were set to be married, but did he really love her before he found out about their arranged marriage? Did Kagome actually love him, did she actually accept him as a hanyou, or did she want him to change, to become human or youkai.

"You are being foolish Inuyasha. If you do not decide your intentions soon, you may just lose my reincarnation in the process." Letting the hand with the flower drop, Kikyo turned to stare at the hanyou, "unlike me, she does not have to stay in this world. She shouldn't be in this world to begin with. She could just as easily leave and never come back as she could become your mate. Remember this Inuyasha." Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back on the branch. "You believe that destroying Naraku was the end of your journey, correct? The Shikon no Tama is not whole, and never will be, until my reincarnation realizes her foolish mistakes."

Standing up, Kikyo glided over to Inuyasha and entangled her fingers into his hair. Placing a chaste kiss on his lips, she traced his cheekbone, "I can see your choice in your eyes. I give myself as my final gift." Closing her eyes almost painfully, Kikyo released all of the stolen souls out of her artificial body. Grasping the handful of hair in her crumbling fingers, she placed her head under his chin as she dissolved, blowing away bit by bit in the wind. Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her dissolving body and closed his eyes, a tear leaking from the corner.

As the last of her body blew away, it seemed as if the wind whispered a final goodbye in Inuyasha's ears. Opening his eyes, he felt a weight in one of his hands. Looking at his hand, he saw the red blossom clutched between his fingers, a small blue and pink stone nestled softly in the middle. Touching the stone, it felt familiar to his soul. Realizing what the small stone was, Inuyasha clutched it firmly and whispered a thank you to the wind before turning back to camp.

* * *

After searching around the entire clearing, Kagome found the Shikon Jewel where Naraku fell. Walking back to camp, she inspected the jewel, wondering why the lucky streak that she was having lately. First destroying Naraku with relatively little help, then the jewel not being stolen while it was lying in a field, unprotected. With all this good luck, there had to be something to break it… and there it was. Kagome groaned as her claw found a miniscule chip still missing from the jewel. Barely discernable by the naked eye, a small sliver was missing and from the size, would be nearly impossible to find. She couldn't even feel the pull of a shard on her aura, with it being so small. When she first broke the jewel, it felt as if her aura was being pulled in so many directions that she couldn't pinpoint where one was until it was close. With the more shards that they collected, it became easier to identify individual shards. But the cloaking that Naraku had on the jewel shards that he possessed had her feeling like she was being pulled in infinite directions like the beginning.

Sighing, Kagome clipped the jewel into a small round cage attached to a silver chain hanging around her neck. The relatively large charm hung comfortably over her heart. How was she supposed to explain this one to Inuyasha?

Walking back into camp, Kagome noticed that Kohaku was awake and eating breakfast. "Hello Kohaku, do you remember me?" she asked, sitting down across from the boy.

Looking up startled, he looked at Kagome's face a few seconds before his eyes wandered upward. "You didn't have those before… but you're the miko that Naraku was after…" Kagome cringed slightly at being called a miko, but nodded nonetheless, blushing.

"I like the ears though, they're fuzzy!" Kagome laughed, allowing Shippou into her lap with a hug. With a grin, Shippou scampered up to her shoulder and looked at Kagome's ears and giggled when she flicked them away from his touch. After a few more flicks, Kagome flattened her ears and grabbed Shippou off her shoulder. "That's enough for now, okay?" she asked with a mock-stern face.

Nodding, Shippou settled back onto her lap with a 'yes momma.'

"Did you find it?" Yusuke asked, sitting down from putting her bag back together.

Nodding, Kagome held up the jewel in the cage, "yes, but there's still a shard missing. I can't sense it anywhere because it's so small."

"Do not worry lady Kagome. The jewel shards tend to be attracted by the larger pieces, so you'll find it eventually." Miroku commented, looking up from his breakfast. Nodding, Kagome accepted the bowl that Sango handed her, but set it aside.

"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried about Inuyasha's reaction…"

"My reaction to what?" the aforementioned hanyou asked, stepping into camp.

Looking down into the fire, Kagome slumped into a submissive gesture. "The Shikon, it still has a piece missing."

"Is that all?" Inuyasha asked gruffly, crouching down in front of her. "I knew that already—"

"Kikyo." Kagome mumbled.

Inuyasha looked down also, "yeah. She gave me this though, I think it's yours… sorry." He held out his hand, palm up, to reveal the small pink and blue stone. Kagome touched it hesitantly and it seemed to melt into her skin, her aura becoming a visible purple for a brief moment.

"Sorry for what?" Kagome asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'm sorry for leaving you… and for doubting… us…" he trailed off, shifting to a kneel to see into Kagome's eyes. He brushed her hair from her face and touched the edge of her ear, earning a flick.

"So she's… gone," Kagome whispered, "and you're still here."

Gathering her into his arms, he rubbed her head with his cheek, "as long as you want me here, I will stay with you." He murmured into her ear. Nodding, Kagome relaxed into his arms, feeling whole for the first time in ages.

"Get a room you two!" Yusuke yelled, sitting against a tree with a smug look on his face. Blushing, Kagome ducked her head under Inuyasha's chin and Inuyasha puffed up proudly. Grinning, Inuyasha took Yusuke's suggestion and leapt into one of the taller tree's branches. Looking around, a wistful look crossed his face briefly as he looked at the human couple and the hanyou couple in the group. Feeling like the fifth wheel, Yusuke stood up and gathered everyone's travel packs together before looking over at the two boys. "Well? Are you two done eating yet?"

The boys nodded, looking at each other in confusion. "Where are we going Yusuke-oji?" Shippou asked, leaping up to his shoulder.

Yusuke shrugged and gestured out of the clearing. "You want to watch them make out or not?" the boys gave disgusted faces and Yusuke nodded. "Exactly. I think I saw a clearing over there a ways last night. We can spar while we wait." Nodding, Kohaku grabbed his chain-scythe and ran to catch up with the two demons. Raising his eyebrow at the boys' choice of weapons, he sat down and leaned against a tree casually. The boys followed suit as he closed his eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked casually, not bothering to open his eyes.

"…" the boys looked at each other in silence, wondering what they were supposed to do.

With a sigh, Yusuke hunched forward and opened his eyes, pinning each boy with a look. "You two spar each other first, then I'll see where to go from there. Okay?" the boys nodded, but were hesitant as they faced each other in the center of the field. They didn't want to hurt the other, despite knowing that they could possibly not even touch each other. With a nod from Yusuke, Shippou took a deep breath and sprung forward.

"Kitsune-bi!" the kit yelled, hurling a blue fireball at the older human. Kohaku blocked the blast with the blade of his scythe and threw the iron ball, deliberately missing Shippou as the kit dived to the side. Kohaku pulled on the chain and the iron ball whipped around, entangling Shippou's legs in the links. Pulling again, Kohaku tripped the kit and pinned him, placing the dull side of the scythe against his throat.

"Round one: Kohaku!" Yusuke called out, watching Kohaku step back and take a bow.

"You are too young to fight." Kohaku said, brushing off some ash from his scythe.

Shippou puffed up, offended at Kohaku's remark. "I killed a demon before, ask Momma!"

"It was probably a weak little bug demon, kid." Kohaku baited, turning his back.

"It was a lizard! A mean lizard that was hurting a village!" Yusuke stood up, intending to stop their argument before Shippou's tail got cut off or something. He'd heard from Kagome about the 'terrible lizard' and it was really a weakling, but Shippou needed to start somewhere.

"Okay. My turn. Kohaku with me, Shippou when I'm finished with Kohaku, okay?" Shippou grumbled, but both boys nodded. Yusuke slipped into a defensive stance and nodded, allowing Kohaku the first move. Like last time, he threw the iron ball, but directly at Yusuke's head. Ducking, Yusuke grabbed the chain and tried to pull it out of Kohaku's hands. Kohaku pulled back, staggering when Yusuke let go of the chain and ducked out of the way of the returning iron ball. Catching the ball, Kohaku spun around and threw the ball with more force, snapping it back when Yusuke dodged again.

Rushing foreword, Yusuke set his hand in an open-palmed hit, softening his blow considerably as it his Kohaku's sternum, knocking the boy back as he tried to catch his breath. Not waiting, Yusuke swept his foot under Kohaku's feet, intending to knock him down. Leaping back, Kohaku gasped for breath as he landed, jarring his wound from when his jewel shard was implanted. "You kay?" Yusuke asked, concern flashing in his eyes despite not stopping his attack. Kohaku nodded once, doing a back flip to gain distance to throw his scythe.

Allowing the blade to whiz past his head, he winced as he saw a few strands of hair fall to the ground. "Watch it kid, I don't want to go back bald!" he joked as he dodged the return trip of the scythe. Lunging forward, Yusuke tackled Kohaku to the ground and in automatic response he looped the sharp edge of the blade around Yusuke's neck. Both gasping for breath, Yusuke nodded. "Not bad. But Keiko would find me and kill me again if I die… again." With a curious look, Kohaku slowly drew back his blade, accidentally drawing a paper-thin cut along the back of Yusuke's neck.

Yusuke helped Kohaku stand back up and whistled for Shippou to come out from his perch on the tree's lowest branch. "Yusuke-oji, you're bleeding!" the kit squeaked, jumping up onto Yusuke's shoulder. Touching the back of his neck, he drew away his hand with a trace amount of blood on his fingertips.

"Yusuke!" Kagome crashed into the clearing, looking around for any threat, finally locking onto her cousin. "You're bleeding?"

Showing his hand to Kagome, Yusuke smirked. "I'm fine Kags, just a paper cut. It's probably healed by now." Kagome didn't look convinced as she circled Yusuke, sweeping away the hair covering his neck. She spotted an irritated red line with a small amount of smeared blood over it. Frowning, Kagome licked her thumb and rubbed away the last of the blood.

"That could have been worse, Yusuke, and I don't want to get in Keiko's way when she finds out that you died… again." Yusuke grimaced and turned to look at his cousin.

"Would it make you feel better to say that I was being reckless and I'm sorry?" Kagome rolled her eyes and smacked Yusuke in the head, knocking him over.

"Now I feel better." Shippou giggled at his mother's antics, having leapt to her shoulder. "You didn't get hurt, did you Shippou-kun? That brute doesn't know his own strength sometimes. Like Inuyasha!"

"Oi!" two males said in unison, one sitting up and the other in red carrying Kagome's large yellow bag. Giggling as Shippou snuggled into Kagome's arms, he shook his head negative.

"That's good. Can you go over to Papa now?" Shippou nodded, sprinting to land on Kagome's bag as Inuyasha set it down. Turning to Yusuke, she gave what could only be described as a feral smirk. "My turn, ne?" Yusuke returned the smirk and went to tackle Kagome. She grabbed his left shoulder and flipped over his head, swiping her leg as she landed, tripping the war hanyou. Shaking his head, Yusuke's eyes glittered as he slowly sat and then stood. Crouching for a low tackle, he caught Kagome around the waste and dropped her over his back onto hers. With a small growl, she stood on her hands and knee, swinging her other leg to trip Yusuke, pinning him to the ground by his shoulders.

"Eat dirt!" she growled, smirking. Flipping over quickly, Yusuke threw Kagome off and crouched in a two-way position that could easily attack and defend. Drawing out her dagger, she ran a finger along the sharp edge, piercing her fingertip on the sharp tip. Muttering a few words under her breath, the blood ran along the edge of the blade, becoming a barrier to dull the blade. "There. It won't cut you, but it still can break a bone or two!" with that, she crossed the blade in front of her chest and rushed forward, slashing at Yusuke's shirt and drawing a red streak across the shirt.

Looking down, Yusuke touched his shirt, feeling the red stickiness of blood, but no wound in his skin or hole in his shirt. "What was that about?" he asked, hurt in his voice.

"Don't worry; it'll come out when I 'kill' you." Kagome explained, trying to kick her cousin.

Yusuke dodged with a laugh, "you kill me, hah! You couldn't even hit the broad side of a skyscraper!" Kagome growled, but the sound was superimposed by a much deeper, much louder sound.

"Give me the jewel!" an overly-large bear demon crashed into the clearing, swiping at the puny demons in front of him almost blindly. Stopping, Kagome looked over at Yusuke and rolled her eyes. Jumping opposite directions, Yusuke and Kagome used opposite trees as springboards to fly at the demon's face. Each pulled one arm back and slashed diagonal across their chest.

"Shadow slash!"

"Light slash!"

The two streaks of energy crossed, hitting the bear's face in an 'X' formation. The bear's screams were drowned out as it exploded with contrasting energy. The artificial wind whipped at their hair and feathers as they looked at each other.

"Well, that was overkill," Yusuke drawled, sighing as he noticed the black wings that once again graced their backs. Grimacing, he tore off the remains of his shirt as he drew his wings around to form a cloak from the morning air.

"See, I told you it would be easier next time!" Kagome chirped back, surprised that her haori wasn't in tatters. "You'd think that they would grow some brain cells before they attack after a while, wouldn't they?" Kagome looked at Yusuke's long blonde hair and swiped her hand over her head to behind her waist, checking on how much she transformed. She still had her ears, but her tail was there now also. Sighing, she closed her eyes and concentrated on settling back into her natural hanyou state before walking over to Inuyasha, collapsing into his arms.

"It's harder to un-transform than to transform!" she giggled in his arms, placing a finger on Inuyasha's slack jaw. "Come on Blondie! I think it's almost time to head back!" Kagome called over her shoulder, looking at Yusuke.

"I'm not blonde… most of the time." He muttered, grimacing at the hair that fell in his eyes. He stepped toward the two han-inu, allowing himself to relax enough to make his wings disappear and his hair fade to black. The strange thing, his wings wrapped around his arms and chest as they were absorbed, leaving faint tan lines outlining the feathers when they were pulled together like a cloak. Raising her eyebrow, Kagome said nothing to Yusuke's strange markings.

"What's that?" Yusuke asked, squinting as he looked at Kagome's neck.

"Nothing!" Kagome squeaked out, slapping her hand over the reddish mark on her neck as she stepped out of Inuyasha's arms.

Yusuke gave a knowing smirk as he crossed his arms. "You were doing something you weren't supposed to, were you?"

"N-no! What are you talking about?" Kagome continued to back away from her cousin.

"Did you and Inuyasha have fun? Hmm?" Yusuke stalked closer to his cousin, having fun tormenting her.

"Y-you must have hit your head or something. That must be it!"

"Nope, I'm perfectly fine." Yusuke leaned toward Kagome, bumping foreheads. "What would Gin-oba think of her little girl doing the nasty before you two were married?"

"Mated," Inuyasha quickly corrected.

"Fine. Mated?"

Kagome looked away, her face doing a fair impression of Inuyasha's haori. "I-I wasn't—"

"What's it to you?" Inuyasha growled, pulling Kagome back to his chest.

"Nothing," he shrugged with a grin. "Just that Gin-oba will have your balls when she finds out though."

"We haven't mated yet!" Kagome all but screamed as Inuyasha's face went pale. Yusuke grinned and turned away.

"Sure, if you say so. Just find a room next time though, okay?"

"Yusuke!" Kagome growled out, Inuyasha's arms the only thing that kept her from attacking the fight-junkie.

Laughing wildly, Yusuke waved and went to get breakfast and his bag so that they could move out.

* * *

Sorry for taking so long, I just wanted a short break before starting my next arc. This is the same story, just part two of… I don't know. For those who were asking, there will be an end to this story when you guys (the readers) stop reading. I have a friend that wrote a story that was around 200 chapters! I promise that I will never write that much through. Dark 


	38. The Void

Chapter 38: The Void

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for a manga or two at about $10 each… sigh.

Last time: "We haven't mated yet!" Kagome all but screamed as Inuyasha's face went pale. Yusuke grinned and turned away.

"Sure, if you say so. Just find a room next time though, okay?"

"Yusuke!" Kagome growled out, Inuyasha's arms the only thing that kept her from attacking the fight-junkie.

Laughing wildly, Yusuke waved and went to get breakfast and his bag so that they could move out.

This time: Kagome glared. Inuyasha grabbed her hand. Yusuke laughed. And the rest just looked confused. It was the same process repeated over and over the entire morning before Miroku sighed and pointed off the trail to a nearby clearing, silently suggesting where they should take their noon stop on their trip back to Kaede's village. Silently agreeing, they set up with a small fire and kettle boiling water for ramen.

"You. Over here. Now." Kagome gritted out, pointing to the ground by her feet and glaring heatedly to Yusuke. He grinned lazily and cushioned his head with his arms, leaning back against a tree.

"And what if I say no?"

"I'll tell Keiko that you ditched her to help me again, and then let her have at you," Kagome suggested airily as Yusuke went pale.

"Who's Keiko?" Shippou asked, stealing Inuyasha's cup of ramen.

"You wouldn't dare!" He leaned forward, his hands on the knees of his crossed legs. Inuyasha grabbed his ramen back, thumping Shippou on the head. Sango checked the other ramen cups and handed them out, Kohaku looking at the offered cup with curious disgust.

"I've done it before! And this time the stairs won't break your fall."

"Kagome, ramen's ready."

"Okay Sango, thanks for checking on that for me," she smiled, trotting over to sit by Sango, on the other side from Kohaku. She turned to Yusuke and smiled sweetly, "We'll fight after lunch, okay?" Yusuke grabbed his cup and sipped his slowly, procrastinating as long as 'humanly' possible.

Finishing his ramen, Shippou crawled into Kagome's lap and fished a lollipop out of his shirt. "Who's Keiko?" he repeated, looking up at his mother.

Smirking, Kagome looked over at Yusuke, "Keiko is Yusuke-kun's—"

"Friend! She's just a friend. Sure I did say all that stuff and all, but—"

"You chickened out again, didn't you? I've heard that line before: 'we're just friends because we're too different.' Grow up! Sure, you're--"

"I'm finished."

"Huh?" Kagome had the intelligence to reply.

Standing up, Yusuke pulled his arm across his chest and stretched. "You still want to fight, don't you?" Nodding, Kagome finished off the last of her broth and stood up also. They walked to the center of the field and paced away from each other, "Standard rules?" Kagome nodded and they walked clockwise, drawing a large circle in the dirt.

"Sango, do you want to do the count? If one of us leaves the ring or falls down, you count to ten. If you get all the way to ten before we get back into the ring or stand up, we lose, okay?" Sango nodded and stood up, standing at the edge of the ring.

"Any other rules?" she asked, eyeing the edges of the crude ring.

"Yeah, let's just make sure that we can walk later, okay Yusuke." Yusuke shrugged and slid into an offensive position.

"Whatever you say, Lady Night."

"I told you not to call me that!" Kagome screeched, too distracted to dodge being blown out of the ring and into the surrounding trees.

"ONE! TWO..."

"You jerk!" Kagome leapt into the ring and tackled him into the ground. Laughing, Yusuke flipped his cousin over his head.

"Serves you right, most of my opponents don't let their guards down so easily!" Smirking, Yusuke let loose another weak rei-gan.

Kagome dodged, throwing her arm up and casting a partial shield to deflect the blast. Watching from her kneeling position, she growled and dug her clawed hand into the ground. "Stand still you rabbit!" a shadow along the ground in the shape of a claw swiped at the ground whenever Yusuke touched down from his hopping around the ring. Grinning, Yusuke shook his head and leapt again, nearly getting caught as the shadow claw rose off the ground a few inches.

"Ah, come on! I know you can do better than that!" He taunted, shooting a rei-gan by his leg when he was nearly captured by the shadow. Landing, Yusuke let out a surprised yelp when he fell over. His feet and now his arms were encased in shadow. Half-closing her eyes, Kagome allowed herself to be absorbed by the blackness of the shadow that she possessed, closely following Yusuke into the abyss.

* * *

"Yusuke?" she called out into her dark world, used to the sensation of absolute blackness that surrounded her. Her feet touched down, or at least felt like they did, on a springy surface just as black as the void that she felt herself surrounded in.

"Over here," Yusuke called over, his arms crossed over his chest and his black wings cloaked over his shoulders, making the appearance of a floating head in the darkness. Closing his eyes in concentration, several spirit lights appeared around his body, only managing to light the area around his immediate body. "You used your soul attack, and now we're stuck here." His eyes scanned for Kagome in the darkness, but she blended into her surroundings perfectly, this being her controlling soul element.

"It's funny," Kagome mused, flopping down onto the spongy ground, willing it to ripple like the surface of a pool of water.

Taking the bait, Yusuke rolled his eyes and bounce-stepped toward where he felt the ripples come from, "what's funny, the fact that we're stuck here for however long and the outside world will only pass a second?"

Sitting up when she felt he soul twin's lights brush her, "that too." She shook her head, "but I'm talking about my soul and my spirit being two different things. Miko are supposed to be the light in the darkness of demons attacking and killing humans, and yet I am also a demon with a soul of the element of darkness. It makes me want to laugh when they say that my soul holds only light, when it doesn't."

"Darkness doesn't mean evil; light doesn't mean good or purity. They forget that." Yusuke allowed a small laugh to escape, "when I died…" Kagome rose her brow, but Yusuke cut off her comment, "_the first time_, they thought that I was pure evil in a human shell. Stealing, skipping school, getting into fights… I was bored." Kagome nodded in agreement, knowing the 'why' of each time he did what he did.

"Smoking…"

Yusuke laughed at that, sitting down beside his cousin. "Believe it or not, it did save my life. It was one of Genkai-baba's tests that we had to fight in the dark with our opponent. Stuck a lit ciggie in his belt and Bam, I won." Kagome laughed briefly, her smile fading into a distant look as she stared into the surrounding darkness. Looking at his cousin, Yusuke noticed Kagome shivering slightly, not allowing her wings to cloak her body, or to even be materialized in the first place. Pulling Kagome into his lap, he encased her in his wings as his arms hugged her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Preening the feathers in front of her absently, Kagome felt the delicate muscles twitch at her touch. "… I don't know what's going to happen next…"

Yusuke shrugged, resting his chin on the junction between her neck and shoulder. "You rest, enjoy the piece, enjoy your mate—"

"Inuyasha's not my mate… yet."

"And your family, and be thankful that no one was hurt badly or killed…" Kagome felt the chuckle rumbling in his chest, "and you can let us out…"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because your pack's probably getting worried."

"You said it yourself: no matter how long we're in here, it'll only be a moment out there." Sighing, Kagome relented, "I'm worried about adopting Shippou and if the spell will work for me."

"The runt?" Yusuke asked, "I thought you already adopted him."

Kagome shook her head, "Iie, Inuyasha did on his night of power, but I haven't yet. My turn's tomorrow and I'm worried that I'm going to hurt him during the process…"

"What's so dangerous about this adoption? It's just signing some papers, isn't it?" Yusuke thought of what he'd heard about adoption, knowing about Kuwabara's supposed adoption after his parents disappeared during one of the Tantei's missions. His older sister had become his guardian and signed off on a whole bunch of papers for him.

Kagome shook her head. "Demon adoptions need a blood exchange." She gestured with her hands the slitting of the wrist, "then the child drinks both theirs and the parent's blood to complete the ritual." She cupped her hand and tilted it toward her lips. "Problem is, sometimes the ritual kills the child." Yusuke closed his eyes and held Kagome closer.

"But didn't you just say that Inuyasha and the runt did the ritual already?" Kagome nodded in agreement.

"Inuyasha and Shippou are both male, so that made the ritual go more smoothly. And the more times the child's body has to go through the ritual, the more likely it has to reject the blood. That's why I'm hoping to use a different ritual that I found when I was training," Yusuke gave her a curious look, "it resembles more closely the maternal blood bonding with the child and I hope that it'll work better."

"They trust you." Kagome didn't hear Yusuke's last statement as she passed into the land of sleep. "And now you've passed out. Great." Transporting Yusuke and herself into the alternate void world sapped all of her energy, and maintaining it even more. Laying her down, Yusuke stood up and stretched, retracting his wings. Now it was his job to get them back. Summoning his glowing spirit orbs between his hands, he slid into an attack position above Kagome, compacting the orbs into a single one about the size of a marble. Releasing it, the orb exploded, illuminating the dark void into complete light.

* * *

The light faded and the inu-gumi stared on in shock. One moment Kagome and her 'guest' seemed to melt into the shadows that covered the ring that they drew into the dirt, the next, Kagome's 'guest' was standing over her, panting from the exertion of attacking her. Slumped over, his hands were placed in a position that looked like he was about to attack an unconscious Kagome. Sango rushed in, knocking Yusuke to the ground, and fairly snarled at him, demanding an explanation.

"I didn't do anything, lady! Kagome passed out while we were in the shadow world!"

"It's okay Sango, Yusuke didn't hurt me." Kagome explained, propping herself up on her elbows with a small grin. "I guess you win then, ne?"

"K'me!" a voice called from overhead. A redheaded demon landed in front of Kagome, sweeping her up into a spinning hug.

"Hello Jin—"

"Da sen' me to se wha' all th' ruckus wa' 'bu', an' here ah se ya!" he put Kagome down and looked at the others. "whoo, guess ah miss'd all th' fun den… 'dis lass wi' ah fan came alon' and s'ar'ed fightin' wi' me an' ah woulda been here soon'r bu' she tri'd to 'tak meh on wi' mah own pow'rs! Well, Jin of the Wind wouldn' ta' nah o' dat! Ah 'bou' to cyclone har back t' wh' she came fr', bu' den she jus' go 'aah' and fall like splat!" Jin clapped his hands together for emphasis.

"So Kagura's dead den—then?" Inuyasha corrected himself, berating himself mentally for staying around Jin for too long while Kagome was training.

"Nah, sh' jus' rea'y conf'se, den wen' off da o'er way," his eyes landing on Yusuke, Jin walked up to the Toushin, squinting a little, "if ah wasn' meh, ah swa' yeh lo' li' da…"

"Jin, this is my friend Yus-kun." Kagome hugged her slightly taller cousin's arm, "he's from the same place I am."

"Ah!" Jin gave an exaggerated wink to Kagome, "We'come teh Musashi, ah'm Jin, K'me's c'sin o' har da' si'," Jin slowed his speech pattern down dramatically, as if he was speaking to a child.

"Jin, I know who you are, and—" Kagome pinched his inner elbow, "I hope that we can be friends eventually." Yusuke uncrossed his arms and held his hand out to shake.

"But isn't Yusuke Kagome's…" Sango whispered, only to be cut off my Miroku shaking his head.

"an' wh' be thi' lovely lass?" Jin scooted over to Sango, kissing her hand gently, earning a blush as reward.

"S-Sango."

"Whoo, K'me didn' do yah jus'ce wh'n she tal' 'bou' yah. A beau'ful a dan'rus!"

"And taken," Miroku stepped up and wrapped his arm around Sango's waste, resting his ungloved hand on her hip. Placing her hand over Miroku's, Sango smiled apologetically and nodded.

Jin sighed and waved his hand off in a general direction, "s'ory o' mah l'fe. Ah g'ess ah be'er ge' goin' den. Nice tah see yah 'gain K'me. My'e we ca' tal' some ti', neh?"

Kagome shrugged, "maybe." And with that Jin took off, Kagome waving at his retreating back.

"…Glad to see that he didn't change that much in 500 years." Yusuke murmured, sitting down and absently rubbing where Kagome had pinched him.

"You met him before?" Kagome walked over to where they had lunch and started packing everything away.

"Yeah, at the Dark Tournament. I fought Jin and won, but that was the best fight that I've ever had! It was a blast… literally!"

"What's the Dark Tournament?" Miroku asked, sitting down by Yusuke and enjoying the view of Sango helping Kagome clean up, specifically her rear view.

Yusuke shrugged and looked up at the clouds. "A bunch of rich guys buy teams of demons and bet against each other on which team would win. There's always a guest team that has to fight or be assassinated in their sleep, and that team's almost always has at least one human on it that the demon world deems as a threat. A couple of years ago, my team was the guest team and we won." Shrugging again, Yusuke looked around at the others in the group casually before looking back at Miroku. "But mostly, it's just a way to keep lower-level demons happy so that they don't try to attack the spirit barrier and invade the human world."

"Why would you want to keep the lower-level demons happy?" Kohaku spoke up for the first time, looking up from where he was practically hidden in the shadows.

"Because, unfortunately, even the stupid ones realize that there's strength in numbers… and they can hide in the human world easier."

"Isn't that what Taijiya are for, to control the lower-level demons?"

"It's not as easy as that." Sango started, only to be cut off by Kagome.

"Because the Taijiya in my time are all corrupt and believe in human purity." She hitched her thumb over her shoulder at Yusuke, "they even attacked Yus-kun, and he's only something like 1/100th recessive demon gene or something."

Yusuke gave her a dry glare, but elaborated on the fancy speech, "it means that the likelihood of me ever knowing about my demonic heritage was practically non-existent… until I was stabbed through the heart and killed for the second time."

"Killed?"

Yusuke nodded and shrugged. "The first time I wasn't scheduled to die yet and I was given a second chance, with the agreement that I would work off my debt from being brought back. Second time, I was in the middle of a mission and I just," he shrugged, "refused to die." Kagome snorted and smacked Yusuke over the head 'accidentally' as she adjusted the bag on her shoulders. "Stubborn to a fault, ne?"

"Seems to work so far," Yusuke replied, standing up and grabbing his duffle bag.

* * *

Near sunset, the group spotted the smoke of more than one fire—a village! Coming closer, the group crested the hill overlooking a moderate village with a tall wooden wall nearly surrounding it. Near the open gate stood a row of spikes driven into the ground with objects settled on tope of the poles. Telling Shippou to stay with the others, Kagome slipped into the forest's shadows, blending in with the foliage, and slinked as close to the entrance as the surrounding forest would allow her to.

Looking closer at the pikes, Kagome nearly turned green as she sprinted back to the others. "They're heads." She informed the others, bending over as she gasped to keep her lunch down. "O-oni heads," she explained, looking at the surrounding forest.

"From what it looks like, it's too late to continue tonight, and they'll think it's suspicious if we camp in the forest, so the village is our only option." Miroku stated grimly.

His ears twitching to catch the sounds of the walled village, Inuyasha looked at Kagome. "How good's that spell you showed me earlier?"

"The glamour spell?" Kagome asked back, "I could hold several in place for as long as we're in the village and practically no one would be able to detect it unless they have an almost god-like sixth sense. I don't smell any holy people, at least not strong ones, in there, so we should be safe."

"An illusion? Kagome-sama, would that be wise?" Miroku asked, watching the village also.

"It's not an illusion, it's a spell that I learned a while ago and it'll change our physical looks, like my ears, for as long as needed without fading. Only the counter-spell or death removes the spell, so it's pretty strong enough to work. And no, you don't have to stay within a certain distance of me and stuff like that."

"Good enough." Inuyasha nodded taking mental note of what all needed to be changed about everyone. "You should start with the runt." Nodding, Kagome set Shippou down and looked at the others from his eye level.

"Hmm… we need a story. From what the village looks like, I don't think that they would just understand the usual 'we're just a group of weary travelers looking for a place to stay for the night' line. Sango, would you mind taking on another 'brother' for the night?"

"No… what are you planning?" Kagome had already started, running her fingers over Shippou's hair, turning it black with ruddy highlights. Her hands tracing down, Shippou's ears, teeth and claws rounded out while he grew to look like a human twelve-year-old. His tail disappeared completely and his clothing changed to a black Taijiya uniform with forest green and blue armor.

"Can I trust you to not lose this?" Kagome handed Shippou her dagger as she turned him around and undid the bow that held up his hair.

"Yes momma!" Shippou chirped enthusiastically as he tied it around his waist with a blue sash. Finger brushing his hair, Kagome swept it into a low ponytail instead of his usual high one, tying the ribbon so that the ends were loose instead of in a large bow. Giving Shippou a once-over, she nodded and pushed him gently in Sango and Kohaku's direction.

Moving on to Yusuke, she brushed over his eyes quickly before going to Inuyasha. "The story is," she transformed Inuyasha's ears, "I am being sent back to my father's lands for my own safety, but my _husband_ worries for my safety from demons, thus he also sends guards with me." Inuyasha snorted and rolled his eyes as Kagome tied back his now-black hair. His violet eyes following Kagome's movement as she spelled his clothing and feet to look like a guard's uniform with a crescent holding a ball as the mon—family crest—over his heart. "My guards are thus: my _brother_, a monk and his brother, the monk's fiancé and her younger brothers." She strokes Puu and it turns into a blue jay and flies to perch on Yusuke's shoulder. Kilala is last as she is turned into a Siamese and curls around Sango's neck.

"What about you?" Yusuke eyed Kagome critically, his eyes landing on her ears. Blushing faintly, Kagome dug into her bag and pulled out the skirt and obi that matched her haori.

"I'll be right back," she skipped behind a tree and quickly changed into the skirt, but looked at Sango in a helpless way. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and went behind the tree also, helping tie the obi in a fancy knot.

"Your ears?"

"I'm getting to it!" Kagome huffed, tugging her clothing into place before running her fingers through her hair, transforming it to the style it was while she was with the Daughters. The small braids were gathered up in an elegant style with beads on the end of each strand. Her ears were normal, but green beads hung off each lobe. A delicate chain hung across her forehead, supporting a matching green bead between her perfectly arched eyebrows on her moon-white face. "The princess, of course, is a bit exotic." Kagome changed her voice to a delicate timbre with a strange accent, "she came from a foreign land when she was a child, an agreement with a local minor lord on the southern coast with another small country south of China. She's going home to the lord that raised her since she moved to Nippon."

"You're never going to pull it off." Yusuke crossed his arms and rolled his now stormy grey-blue eyes.

"Did I mention," Kagome looked over at Yusuke with a stern look, "that the brother is _mute_? Kilala, how about you stay with me?"

"Yes ma'am." He mumbled, uncrossing his arms and leaning against a tree. The neko leaped over to Kagome and curled around her neck like she had Sango.

"Very interesting story Kagome-sama, but should we keep our normal names?" Miroku asked.

Kagome shrugged and then charmed hers and Yusuke's bags to shrink to small charms. Charming the small bags to look and weigh like small earrings, she walked over to Yusuke and grabbed his left ear. "Yes, _Houshi-sama_, we should keep our names and titles—Hold still Yusuke!—It'll be hard enough to remember the story otherwise.—There, I'll heal it later if you want." Yusuke rubbed his sore ear; a new piercing had a small rectangular piece of silver hanging off of it that was his duffle bag in its past life. Turning to Inuyasha, the hanyou held his hands out to keep Kagome away from his ear, even if it was only temporary. "Quit being such a baby! You guys can't take a little pain, can you?" sulking in defeat, Inuyasha tilted his head so that Kagome could pierce his left ear with an earring with a rounded piece of silver attached.

"Well, shall we go then?" Miroku gestured to the road as he took the lead with Sango behind him. Kagome stood in the middle with Yusuke and Inuyasha on either side. The boys brought up the rear of the procession. The twilight lit up the fog that had started to surround the village, making the group seem to come from nowhere, like spirits from heaven.

"Halt! Who goes there?" a guard called from his post at the front gate.

Miroku stepped forward, making a gesture of peace. "We are but weary travelers and we wish to stay the night in this village instead of the forest. You see, the lady," Miroku gestured to Kagome, "is very delicate and is in need of a proper night's rest. Surely you can find it in your heart to allow us sanctuary?" The guardsmen looked dubious, eyeing Sango and Kagome hungrily.

Kagome resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she stepped forward. "Please sir, much honor on both of our parts for night's rest allowance?" she knew that she had just butchered the line, but that was part of the 'exotic princess' role, along with an almost-whispering soprano voice.

The guard grabbed her chin and turned her head from side to side. Kagome had to resist biting the man's fingers off for touching her. "And what makes me so sure that you're not just some kitsune in disguise or something?"

"I have fighters for demons for guards, why demon have demon-hating guards?" she tried to hide her disgust with herself. The guard took the look for disgust against demons and nodded in approval. Calling to another guard to take his place, the guard led them to the center of town and the chief's home. _Here we go_, Kagome thought looking at the sprawling house.

* * *

I'm sorry for the delay. I kept on saying 'I'll do it this weekend,' but it turned into the next, and the next… and finally one of my friends e-mailed me to make sure that I hadn't died. All I have to plead my case with is thus: Senioritis and Writer's Block concerning the transition into the next arc. Later (Hopefully sooner though)! Dark Inu Fan

PS. If you can't understand Jin, read it _very slowly_.


	39. Welcome to the Family

Chapter 39: Welcome to the Family

Disclaimer: I have a camera and the internet, not the world! I don't own Inuyasha, got it?

Last time: "I have fighters for demons for guards, why demon have demon-hating guards?" she tried to hide her disgust with herself. The guard took the look for disgust against demons and nodded in approval. Calling to another guard to take his place, the guard led them to the center of town and the chief's home. _Here we go_, Kagome thought looking at the sprawling house.

This time: A shadowed figure looked out the window of his darkened high-rise office, a cup of coffee in his hands, long gone cold and stale. "It's about to happen, I can feel it." He said, not even turning to acknowledge the woman walking into the office, a manila folder in her hands. The tall, dark-haired woman nodded, prying the cold coffee cup out of the man's hands, to replace it with the manila folder.

"You can sense it too then. Have you contacted Koenma's Tantei?" the man nodded, his long white hair swishing in its ponytail against his red silk shirt.

"He sent Yusuke to go with her. Everything's going as it's supposed to." The woman walked behind the man and gave his shoulders a gentle squeeze of a hug.

"I promise we'll get her back. Even if we have to fight, we will get your mate back." The man nodded, opening the folder to stare at the pictures that lay inside.

* * *

Kagome kneeled in front of the village's lord, trying not to fidget too much under his intense scrutiny. It seemed like hours before the lord sighed and leaned his fat girth back against a chair backing padded with lush red silks and trimmed by gold. Stroking his goatee, he eyed her body hungrily, a lustful glint in his eye. Looking anywhere but at the fat man, Kagome could feel the protective glares penetrating through her back to the lord. Surprisingly, it was Sango's glare that she felt the most intensely.

"You we thank for beds. Dawn we leave, yes?" Kagome looked at the lord in what she hoped would be a convincing expression. The lord's eye glinted as he leaned forward and tilted Kagome's chin up, and then to the sides, inspecting her face. She swallowed a growl, trying to resist spitting on their host's grotesque face.

"Hmm… I haven't had dinner yet, why don't you stay and… pour my saké?" Kagome caught the dangerous tone of his voice and nodded quickly.

"Servants sleep now, yes?" she put on her innocent eyes, "prepare mistress' bed, yes?"

The lord looked around at the row of guards that sat behind her, Inuyasha and Yusuke flanked her immediately behind, and the others made a respectful line behind the three. His eye landed on Sango, kneeling to Kagome's far left. "You two will accompany me tonight. The rest of you, go!" at his blatant dismissal, Miroku gave Sango a worried glance and stood up with the other boys. Sango shot back a reassuring glance and stepped up to Kagome's side and kneeled next to her. Standing up Inuyasha and Yusuke loomed behind Kagome, glaring at the lord. The lord glanced at the two left and narrowed his eyes. "No guards, just girls. Leave." He waved the two off. Yusuke stepped closer and sat down the same distance from the lord that Kagome was, instead of at her flank.

"Brother stay, he no talk!" Kagome quickly did an illusion on Yusuke's mouth and pried open his jaws for the lord to see. Indeed, there was no tongue in Yusuke's mouth anymore. Shooting her a peeved look, Yusuke snapped his jaws shut and crossed his arms. He could still feel his tongue, but it was like his tongue was not there at the same time. The lord seemed to contemplate for a moment, fingering his goatee. Looking over Yusuke's lithe body, he concluded that the boy would be no trouble.

"He can stay, but once he does something, I'm warning you right now," he looked at Kagome intensely, "you will all be tried and convicted as demons." Bowing her head, she seemed to agree with his ruling. Sitting back, the lord gave a satisfied smile. "Guard goes though." Inuyasha stood up, hand on his sword, threatening to pull it on the lord.

Kagome placed a hand on Inuyasha's leg. "Play along," She whispered under her breath while her head was still bowed, just loud enough to hear with demon-inu hearing. Letting go of the sword with a huff, Inuyasha stuffed his arms up his copious sleeves and stalked to the back of the room to follow the others to their sleeping quarters for the night.

Outside, the others were met with a guard holding a pike painted red to look like bloodstains. Looking back at where he was leaving Kagome, Inuyasha huffed and crossed his arms, following at the back, his invisible ears pointed backward to detect any sound. "This way," the guard growled out, thumping Inuyasha's calves with the blunt end of his pike. Inuyasha growled and restrained himself from hitting the guard back.

Inside the room, the lord waited until he could no longer hear the guards' footsteps before turning his lecherous grin on the two women, completely ignoring the 'brother.' Clapping twice, three bruised women walked inside, carrying food trays. Their kimono were tied shut barely, reminding Kagome of what she had heard about the old brothels, with their obi tied in front in a simple knot. Two of them silently nudged a third to walk up to the lord, while they set trays in front of the two girls, giving them pleading looks. The third squealed, trying to get away from the lord, who had grabbed the lose ends of her obi and had pulled her close enough to lick the side of her neck. Letting go, the girl fell backwards and scooted almost halfway out the room before standing up by the other two. The three kneeled and bowed in unison before shutting the shoji and leaving.

Peeved at not getting any food, Yusuke grabbed a bit of everything off of Kagome's tray. "Brother test poison, good?" Yusuke nodded, both knowing that there were no poisons in the food because Kagome had smelled it when it was sat down. "Brother test guard also?" Sango didn't say anything to object, trying not to give in to hurting the lord for his unfair treatment to women.

Holding up his saké cup, the lord waited for Kagome to stand up and pour before attempting to grab her around the waste. Kagome poured the saké grudgingly and turned away before he could grab her like he had the other girl. 'Don't you dare,' she thought, trying to restrain herself from leaving immediately, or something more violent. The meal was taken in silence, the girls resisting or ignoring any advance that the lord made, while the lord became angry with the girls.

After the meal trays were taken away by the same girls, Kagome spoke up, "bed now, yes?" The lord didn't smile, but waved them off. The same guard from earlier came and led them to the others. Leaving the girls and Yusuke outside the room, Kagome slid back the shoji, only to be tackled by an enthusiastic Shippou in his 'human' form.

"Momma, you're back!" Kagome nodded and attempted to smile as she ruffled his hair, but the emotion was lost in her worried expression. Sitting down, Kagome pulled Shippou into her lap and draped her arms around his shoulders and rested her forehead on his left one.

"We're leaving before dawn." She mumbled, closing her eyes and seeming to fall asleep.

"If only he was…!" Yusuke shook his fist, his eyes nearly glowing.

"Yusuke," Kagome mumbled, "sometimes humans can be worse than demons, you have to remember that here. The rules of the game are different." Sitting down roughly, Yusuke crossed his arms and leaned against a wall, closing his eyes.

"Imagine if Kuwabara was here, the dope'd go after 'im either way!" Kagome laughed a little, knowing that the tall carrot top would actually follow through.

"We can't win them all," Sango commented from next to Miroku, "and we are trying to have a low profile for once also."

"This is his home, and we can't hurt him without being hurt ourselves. There are eight of us, and the entire palace at the lord's side. We don't want a reputation of murderers following us everywhere, if we're not killed in the process. It's best we sleep and leave early tomorrow." Everyone agreed with Kagome, claiming futons. Miroku and Sango created a double futon before lying down in each other's arms while Yusuke grabbed the end one and pulled it practically to the wall before lying down, facing the wall. Kagome lied down on one empty futon, Shippou in her arms. Kohaku pulled his futon away from the others also, still wary of where his place was in the small group of travelers.

A short while later, Inuyasha pulled his futon next to Kagome's when the others were asleep. With half-open eyes, Kagome smiled at the male hanyou. "Tomorrow," she whispered, hugging Shippou softly. Inuyasha nodded and brushed a braid out of Kagome's eyes.

"We'll leave before dawn." Inuyasha reminded her before lying down. His invisible ears swiveled, catching various noises such as the chink of metal falling against more metal. A strange sound at that time of the night, Inuyasha tried to pass it off as the changing of the guards around the estate.

* * *

Sometime in the middle of the night, a hand covered Kagome's mouth and her first instinct was to scream. Opening her eyes, she saw the lord's ugly mug hovering over her face with his finger over his grotesque lips, signaling her to be quiet. "Scream and the guards surrounding this room will kill all of your friends." Nodding, she hid her prod of Inuyasha's leg with her foot. Inuyasha nodded slightly, signaling that he was already awake. "Now get up." The lord growled, pulling her to her feet roughly. Kagome pretended to struggle, making enough noise for the others to wake from their light slumber. Miroku looked at Sango, who nodded slightly.

Sitting up, Sango yawned and rubbed her eyes, stretching Sango 'spotted' the lord taking Kagome roughly by the arm, "Kagome-sama, where are you going at this time of night?"

The lord squeezed Kagome's arm warningly and she gave an exaggerated wince, "I go to lord, he speak to me. Sleep now."

"No, she comes with us also," the lord gestured for another guard to grab Sango, leading her off to follow after Kagome and the lord.

Watching the shoji close, Inuyasha sat up and listened as the other guards filed away from the surrounding rooms and hallway. Looking at the others, he quickly realized that none of them but Kagome and Shippou had actually fallen asleep. Nodding at the others, he quietly gathered his sword and the others followed suit with their various weapons. Tapping Shippou on the nose, he immediately woke up, knowing from past experience to be quiet. "The girls have been taken," Inuyasha quickly brought Shippou up to speed and he nodded, tying Kagome's dagger onto his hip. Sliding the shoji door open quietly, Inuyasha took a tentative sniff and looked around. Signaling that the coast was clear, Inuyasha walked out into the hallway as quietly as he could, the others following suit.

* * *

"Where me take?" Kagome asked, faking trying to get away.

"You," the lord licked his chops, "are going to pay for your stay tonight. And possibly your safe release tomorrow if you satisfy me well enough better than these mongrel wenches, hanyou." Kagome gasped audibly, doubling her struggles to get away from the lord's suddenly stronger grasp. With her quickened breathing, Kagome picked up the stench of the lord, as well as the underlying stench of low-class demon. Growling, Kagome planted her feet and lashed out, spinning out of his grasp and into a defensive position, her hands raised to use her claws. The lord grabbed his arm, pulling away and licking the blood off his fingers. Grinning, the lord leaned in and grabbed her wrist again with his bloodied hand, "I wouldn't do that if I were you… Demon! Demon in the house!" The lord yelled, pinning Kagome against his chest. She bucked, catching his thigh with her claws as she spun and leapt away from the lord. Taking her cue, Sango jammed her elbow into her captor's face, feeling the flesh of his nose turn to sponge as it broke. Nodding at each other as the alarm was raised, the two girls ran.

* * *

The group—minus the girls—crept along the walls of the castle, their hands hovering over various weapons to attack if necessary. Peering around a corner, Inuyasha sniffed at Kagome's trail, following it easily. Seeing a clear hallway, he gestured for the others to follow as he turned the corner. "Demon! Demon in the house!" the cry went out from the next hallway over and the group drew their weapons and ran, caution be damned, toward where they now knew the girls were. Warning bells started to ring as they met up with Kagome and Sango, running the opposite direction as the boys on the other side of a courtyard. Leaping over the railing, the groups met and Sango whistled for Kilala. The cat transformed, breaking Kagome's glamour spell in the process.

Waiting for the humans to climb on Kilala, the others formed a temporary protective circle as they watched as guards flooded in from every hallway, converging around the courtyard that the group stood in. With a sharp whistle, Kilala took to the air with the others leaping to the rooftops and over the outer wall soon after. They dodged arrows from the watchtowers, ducking out of the way and batting most of them away. One struck Kagome in the thigh and before she could cry out, Inuyasha snapped the shaft and lifted her, running effortlessly after the others.

"Klutz."

"Baka." They exchanged their unique form of thanks and Inuyasha landed briefly before leaping after the others among the treetops.

"Let's get as far away as we can before sunrise, ok?" Kagome suggested. Nodding, Inuyasha set his lips in a grim line as he sped up to take the lead.

"Follow me," he called back, turning away from the forest path they were following and deeper into the woods. Zigzagging slightly, Inuyasha seemed to be looking for something as he turned his head and ears this way and that, trying to find whatever he was looking for. After a time, he sat Kagome down by a small stream and waited for the others to arrive. "We won't make it back to the village by daybreak, so this will have to do," Inuyasha muttered, kneeling next to Kagome and untying her obi.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Kagome asked, batting away Inuyasha's hands.

Giving her an impatient look, Inuyasha finished untying the obi and set it aside carefully. "Getting that arrowhead out before you heal over it," he mumbled, untying the bottom half of her kimono, barely hiding his blush behind his hair. Making sure that her haori covered her somewhat decently, Inuyasha gently poked where the arrow had embedded her thigh, earning a painful hiss from the other hanyou.

Lying back, Kagome clenched her fists and laid one of her forearms over her eyes to block out the pain, "just make it fast." Nodding, Inuyasha dug his claws into her thigh and extracted the arrowhead. Putting it aside, Inuyasha looked at Kagome's face briefly before bending his face down over the wound. Licking it gently, he cleaned up the blood and used his canine saliva to disinfect the wound.

"Oh-ho-ho. We leave you two for a few moments, and you start to undress Kagome-sama!" Inuyasha turned and growled at the monk, his eyes flashing briefly. Miroku grinned, ignoring the death threats that were coming his direction from the hanyou. Suddenly meeting the ground, Miroku looked up to see Sango walking toward Kagome and kneeling beside her, settling her Hiraikotsu back onto her back. His face met the ground a second time as Shippou stepped on his head as a springboard to Kagome.

"Okaa!" Inuyasha thumped Shippou on the head before he could pounce Kagome and possibly injure her with his temporarily larger size. When would the kit learn not to pounce on others?

"I guess we don't need the glamour spell anymore, ne?" Kagome propped herself up on her elbows, even though Inuyasha pressed her shoulder to try to keep her lying down. "Inuyasha, I'm fine. 'Tis but a flesh wound' Mr. I-get-gutted-and-still-fight." She grumbled, releasing the spell. Shivering, Miroku felt the magic as it swept back into Kagome's body. Sitting up, Kagome scooped up Shippou and gave the kit a hug. "Ohayo, my son, are you ready for today?" she asked, snuggling Shippou with her cheek. In one swift movement, Kagome plucked the round earring from Inuyasha's hanyou ear and dropped it on the ground. Kneeling down, she tapped the disc with one of her claws and it transformed back into her bag. Grabbing her hakama out of the bag, she stuffed the carefully folded obi and kimono skirt into the top, tying the bag shut once more. Tapping a snap on one of the smaller pockets, the bag reverted to the earring once again.

Practically yanking his earring out of his ear, Yusuke glared at his once-duffle-bag and attempted to transform it back into its normal form. "You have to tap it in a certain way, Yusuke, so just put it back on for now." Kagome advised, finishing tying her hakama together. Holding the earring up to Inuyasha, he shook his head, retreating to the other side of the clearing. Kagome huffed, poking the backing through the fabric of her haori so it would be secure.

Snorting at Kagome's stubbornness at forgetting her pain, Inuyasha jerked his head off to the side. "This way," touching a cliff face that bordered one side of the clearing, he pushed aside the foliage to expose a small cave entrance. "I hid here as a pup, it gets bigger further back," he offered up, holding the vines out of the way to allow the others to crawl through the rough-hewn hole. Leading, Kagome traced one of the claw marks on the wall before crawling ahead. She sat back, rubbing her puncture wound when she had enough head room to do so.

"Shippou, do you think you can give us some light?" nodding, the kitsune bound around Kagome and around a corner. Orbs of Kitsune-bi surrounded him and cast an eerie glow in the tunnel, deepening the shadows formed by the claw marks that formed the tunnel.

"Ooh, 'Kaa! Come and see! Come and see!" Shippou raced back around the corner and tugged on Kagome's arm, running back to the turn and crouching down.

"Okay, I'm coming." Kagome laughed, seeing Shippou crouch in the bend and look between her and what was ahead. "Are we near the cave?" Shippou nodded and as soon as Kagome reached the turn, she saw the entrance to the cave that Shippou sat near. His fire reached out, barely touching the opposite wall with its light. Standing up inside the cave, Kagome saw a pinprick of light above. A smoke hole on top of the cliff was probably the natural entrance.

"The tunnel was there before I found this, but I finished making it big enough to crawl in while I was here." Inuyasha looked at his claws before picking his way across the darkened floor, stacking some old wood and starting a small fire to light the cave.

"Cozy," Sango commented, one hand on the cave wall, tracing the perimeter. The cave was barely ten paces across in the main area, with small fissures and holes leading in different directions. Nearly falling in, Sango discovered a small cave pond that took up a good third of the room. Getting the fire lit, the room turned a warm golden color.

"The water tastes a little strange, but it's drinkable," Inuyasha commented, sitting with his back against the wall. "Is this good enough for what you planned?" Kagome nodded, staring up at the smoke hole and the small amount of pre-dawn light that she could see beyond.

"Yeah, we're not going to be able to move much today because of the ceremony." Unhooking the earring from her haori, Kagome transformed it and pulled out her sleeping bag. Setting the bag by the entrance, she unzipped it completely and set it down over the sandy surface of the cave floor. "But I'm not worried because we have plenty of protection, right Kohaku?" Kagome smiled gently at the boy sitting in the entrance with his foot propped up on the tunnel's wall. Kohaku looked at Kagome in something akin to shock before blushing and turning his head away.

Sitting in the center of the sleeping bag, Kagome set out a ceremonial dagger and a length of white cloth with symbols stitched along the entire length down the center in black and red stitches. "Miroku, will you help me with the beginning of the ceremony? I'll need you to tie our wrists together securely and quickly when I tell you to, can you do that for me?" Miroku nodded and kneeled closer, picking up one end of the white fabric and inspecting the foreign symbols.

Gesturing to Shippou, the kit scampered over to sit in Kagome's lap comfortably. "I'm sorry, but this might hurt a little in the beginning, okay?" Shippou nodded and Kagome smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. Turning to Inuyasha, she smiled, "can you hold me while the sun comes up?" breathing in her scent, Inuyasha nodded and pulled Kagome into his lap sideways, so that she could lean into his embrace. Closing her eyes briefly, kagome turned her look onto her cousin. "In stead of my late father and head of the family, do you give permission for this kitsune to be adopted?" she asked, barely containing a grin at the ritual question.

"In stead of your late father, and by proxy of the family head, I give permission for this adoption." Yusuke smirked, "and you'd better give your ma the respect she deserves." Shippou nodded, getting comfortable. Smirking back at Yusuke, Kagome closed her eyes and tilted her head back to the hole in the cave roof as her blood turned to fire. Breathing deeply as the sun peeked over the horizon outside, Kagome tilted her head back down.

With her eyes glowing, her blood charged with demonic power, Kagome grabbed the knife and slashed both hers and Shippou's wrists before pressing them together tightly. "Miroku!" the monk moved quickly, tying the smaller wrist to the larger as the symbols of the cloth started glowing, absorbing the blood that leaked between the two wrists. Tying a secure knot, Miroku leaned back and watched the cloth slowly turn the color of fresh blood. Breathing deeply, Kagome held Shippou tightly and started muttering. The symbols on the cloth glowed and projected themselves out, forming a cocoon of golden letters around both their upper arms as the cloth turned an almost brilliant white. The blood soaked into the cloth was pulled into the symbols and projected into the cocoon also, turning their entire forearms red with blood. The cocoon settled so that the entire ceremony appeared as if they had only tied their arms together with a white cloth.

"And now we wait." Kagome leaned into Inuyasha, her breath shallower than normal, as well as her skin slightly paler as the glow of transformation settled into her skin. During the process, Shippou had passed out, losing as much blood as Kagome, but in a smaller body. Stroking Shippou's bangs, she kissed his forehead and checked for the pulse in his neck. It was shallow, but she could feel it quickly recovering to the healthy beat of slumber.

"Lady Kagome, if I may ask," Miroku leaned forward, his hand barely touching the white cloth that bound both hers and Shippou's wrists, "what is this?"

Leaning into Inuyasha, Kagome gave a yawn before touching the white cloth. "It's a prayer ribbon. I had to make the entire thing by hand, so that's why it looks so simple." The cloth indeed had lumps and gaps in the weave where the yarn used wasn't made correctly. Grinning, Kagome laughed at herself, "at least I know that I'm never going to make cloth professionally! And I don't even want to tell you how many times I stabbed myself trying to embroider the spell into the thing! The string that I used was actually as white as the yarn I made if that gives you any clue."

"Yeah, you're about as good as my mom when it comes to homemaking!" Yusuke laughed, leaning back against the cave wall, his hands pillowing his head.

"Hmm," Kagome gave him a sly look, "speaking of which, don't you owe me a dinner, chef Yusuke?"

Yusuke turned his head away, staring at the light peeking through the roof, "Feh, it's just lucky for me that the runt's asleep now, or he'd never let up on me in the future." It was a fact that he hid well, but he actually enjoyed cooking, since it was learn or starve when he was younger. The talent he rarely ever allowed the others to know about. The Yukimura's, Keiko's parents, actually had once offered him a job when he was younger because of his talent with a knife. Looking at Kagome out of the corner of his eye, Yusuke huffed, "we'll see how things are when we get home."

"You mean when you get home. This is where I live most of the time, and this is my second family Yusuke. Home, to me, is on either side of the well." Yusuke shrugged and accepted Kagome's correction. Inuyasha stood up and moved to the wall next to the fire, taking Kagome with him. He settled Kagome back into his lap and leaned back, his arms wrapped around Kagome's waist. "You don't have to hold me anymore if you don't…" Inuyasha's soft growl cut off her train of thought as he nipped her ear. Yipping a small apology, Kagome licked Inuyasha's chin to signify her subservience. Cutting off another yawn, Kagome leaned back into Inuyasha, closing her eyes. It was strange, she felt the burn of the demonic energy in her veins, but she was tired also, as if Shippou was taking all of her energy into himself.

"Sleep," Inuyasha murmured, nipping the shell of her ear, "I'll wake you up if anything happens." The last thing she could remember was feeling the pulse of the bandage before sinking into oblivion.

"Is that normal?" Sango asked, moving closer to inspect Kagome's vital signs.

"She's fine," Inuyasha turned away slightly to shield Kagome's vulnerability.

"Kags told me a little about this the other day," Yusuke spoke up from where he appeared to be asleep also, "it's a symbolic pregnancy or something. All I know is that they're stuck like that until the runt's body sees her blood as his mother's. We might be stuck here a while, so get comfortable." Shifting his shoulders from where they were getting jabbed by a stray rock, Yusuke settled into the cave wall more comfortably. Nodding, Sango un-strapped her Hiraikotsu and started polishing it with a cloth from her small bag. Miroku settled by the water to meditate and Kilala laid down practically in the fire and started kitty-snoring.

* * *

'If this is what a real pregnancy is like, I quit,' was the first thought that flashed though Kagome's mind as her stomach clenched with a wave of severe nausea. Letting out a small groan, Kagome clutched her stomach and curled inward around Shippou. Settling her nose into the kit's hair, the wave passed to a sense of her mouth being full of cotton instead.

"The others ate a while back, but there's some stew left and that might settle your stomach." A soft voice came from the other end of the cave and Kagome turned her head toward it. Kohaku stood awkwardly, digging his toe into the sand.

"I'll pass on the stew, but I'll take some water if there's any." Kagome smiled at he nervous boy as he hurried to do as he was asked. Sitting up from where she laid on her sleeping bag, Kagome looked around at the virtually empty cave. "Where is everyone?"

"After a couple of hours, your mate and clan brother started arguing, so they went outside so that they wouldn't disturb you. The Monk and Sango-nee followed soon after to get some sunlight. Kilala is at the entrance of the cave, keeping watch." Kagome nodded and took the water bottle that Kohaku offered and sipped. After a few moments, Kagome noticed that the boy hadn't moved from when he gave Kagome the water bottle, but instead went back to digging his toe into her sleeping bag.

"Yes? Is there something you want to ask Kohaku-kun?"

"Aa…Iie…" Kohaku mumbled, kneeling in front of Kagome. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Shippou, "I've never seen a youkai adoption ceremony before, but I've heard of them. Thank you for allowing me to be present during your ceremony." The boy bowed deeply, his nose nearly touching the ground.

"Do you want to see closer?" holding Shippou cradled in her arms so the bandage wouldn't be disturbed, she held him for Kohaku to see easier. During the time that Kagome and Shippou were asleep, the kit's coloring and features had changed. His hair became streaked with white, as had his tail, lightening his overall coloring from its rusty hue. His ears had also changed, becoming large white fox ears perched on top of his head. Stroking a relatively large ear, Kagome smiled. "He'll grow into them… hopefully." The ears weren't garishly large, but they were definitely one of his most noticeable attributes at the moment.

Touching one of Shippou's ears tentatively, Kohaku spoke up, "your mate's coloring looks like it's dominant."

"That's because it is. Any biological pups will have his coloring too, most likely. There's also some pale coloring in my bloodline also, so that might be affecting him also." Closing her eyes, she felt the surrogate connection between them as it pulsed with the exchange of blood. The pulse was weaker from what it had been earlier, signifying the lessening of resistance between bloods. "What time is it?"

"Mid-afternoon, Kagome-sama, you have been asleep most of the day." Nodding, Kagome looked up at the hole in the cave and from the light, it seemed later than that.

"Then only a few hours left. Sometime during the night, the ceremony will be complete." Settling back down, Kagome closed her eyes and drifted, once again, into sleep.

* * *

Swiping with her free claws, Kagome batted away the annoyance that was stroking her face. Grimacing at the smell of roasting meat in such a confined area, Kagome rolled away and sat up. "Good, you're awake, Kagome-chan," Sango exclaimed, walking over from where she was sitting by the fire, "you've been shaking for a while now."

"Uhm?" Kagome groaned, holding her head with her free hand and Shippou with her tied hand. The kit was definitely larger than earlier that afternoon, his coloring completely white and his tail smoothed out from the puff-ball it used to be. Kagome felt exhausted, as if she had been running the entire day with a weight on her back… how did Inuyasha do it? "What time is it?"

"Nearly sunset," Inuyasha supplied almost instantly. His face was turned upward, watching the hole in the roof of the cave intently. A moment later, Kagome felt it: the shift of her demonic energies from humanoid to her canine form. Looking down, the glow from her core spread to Shippou also, beginning his transformation. Trying to stand up, Kagome collapsed onto her hand and knees, bracing against having Shippou hurt. Dry-heaving, Kagome held Shippou tightly as the transformations took hold. As the sunlight in the cave faded, the smoke and light faded also, leaving a black dog demoness standing over a smaller white fox demon that was still unconscious. Lying down heavily, Kagome nudged Shippou with her nose, then laid her head protectively over his body.

The fox shifted slightly, his pulse changing pace to indicate wakefulness. Sitting down from where he was standing warily next to Kagome, Inuyasha stroked Kagome's head in a sympathetic manner. The bandaging around Kagome's and Shippou's arms pulsed and pulled, the black and red lettering reappearing on the ribbon. Licking Shippou's face, Kagome grabbed the bandage tenderly and started to rip through the knot.

Tapping Kagome's muzzle away, Inuyasha took the knot and shredded it with his claws. Slowly, he started to unwind the length of cloth. Giving an encouraging growl and nudge, Kagome watched as Inuyasha finished unwrapping hers and Shippou's arms. With the last of the cloth out of the way, Kagome licked off the remaining traces of blood from that morning, revealing nothing but a jagged-looking mark that matched on their arms. The identical scars shimmered in the firelight, the fur around that area refusing to grow over the markings.

Giving a canine grin, Kagome settled her muzzle over Shippou's awake and alert body, pinning him to the spot for the remainder of the night. She would deal with his new energy come morning; right now it was time to sleep.

"Welcome to the family runt," Yusuke murmured, watching the family settle in for the night.

* * *

I'll just say that I'm not too happy with this chapter, but I don't really know what to do without writing the entire thing again. There was no action, no real meaning, and the main character was sleeping most of the chapter! Hmm, is it possible to flame myself? At least I'm one step closer to the new arc! Later, Dark 


	40. Aishiteru

Chapter 40: Aishiteru

Wow, I never thought that I'd get this far in this little story of mine. Despite the fact that I still don't own any of the characters from the Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho universe, I still feel as if my little baby of boredom has blossomed into an entire online novel. Oh, and before I forget, I guess I have to make a public apology: Geisha are not prostitutes; they are private entertainers for paying customers in tea houses. In chapter eight, I guess I got carried away about my teahouse girl and have unfortunately pissed off many of my wonderful readers by degrading her position. I am sorry and I will not do anything of the such again, but I will not change my chapter after all this time.

(Now that that's over)

Last time: "Welcome to the family runt," Yusuke murmured, watching the family settle in for the night.

This time: Kagome-inu glared at Shippou. ::sleep!:: she growled, her patience waning with her lack of sleep. Shippou cocked his head to the side and gave a fox-like grin before circling and splashing into the cave pond. Standing, Kagome walked around the others and stood at the edge of the pond, watching the newly white kitsune swim and dive down into the pond. Apparently, what seemed like a shallow pool of water was actually quite deep and relatively warm. Lying down, she stuck one paw into the water and splashed at Shippou, growling.

Popping up from a particularly long dive, Shippou transformed back into his humanoid form, "Kaa-san, guess what?" Kagome shot the hyper child a dry look with her dark eye, "there's another room on the other side of the pond!" raising her eyebrow, Kagome grabbed the kit by the back of his fir vest and pinned him down with her legs.

:: Sleep. Now. ::

"I'll watch him," Inuyasha spoke up, walking up to the tired dog demoness. Her tail thumped once, twice and she stood up, walking over to her sleeping bag and plopped down, snorting in annoyance.

Inuyasha watched Kagome go to sleep before kneeling next to Shippou and peeled off his haori. "So, you found the treasure room, huh?" nodding enthusiastically, Shippou dived back into the water, transforming mid-air to his animalistic form. Following quickly, Inuyasha dove to the bottom of the pool and though a tunnel that was nearly too small to fit through. Gasping for breath, they emerged on the other side in a room much larger and deeper than the room that they were in earlier. Standing up, Shippou extended his kitsune-bi as far as he could reach and watched the rocks glisten in the pale blue light.

Hopping down from the ledge of the pool, Inuyasha stepped carefully around the other various pools in the cavern. The floor was littered with various small objects that glowed in the dim light. Picking one up, he allowed it to absorb some of his youki and glow brighter, lighting up the surrounding area. Following his example, Shippou lit another rock and dimmed his kitsune-bi. "Sugoi," Shippou breathed, looking at the rock that glowed in his hand. Touching the wall with a paw, the entire section lit up enough to not need the kitsune-bi's light anymore. Transforming back into his humanoid form, Shippou looked around in awe.

"If you ever need to have a place to hide if the outer cave is attacked, this is a good place." Picking up a mon and examining it, he tossed it to Shippou. "I also have some money here if it comes to an emergency. As far as I can see or smell, the cave is safe and you can use it for yourself when you get older." Looking at the piece of currency, Shippou reluctantly put it down and scampered onto Inuyasha's shoulder. "Just," Inuyasha looked around the cave, "if you do use the cave to store treasure, make sure that you get something nice for you mother at least."

"Okay Inu-papa-san!" Inuyasha glared at Shippou out of the corner of his eye.

"No 'san' runt." He grumbled before tossing the kitsune back into the pool with a bark-like yelp. Shippou came up sputtering and barely dodged with another yelp when Inuyasha dived into the pool also. Realizing that Inuyasha wasn't coming back up on this side, he took a large gulp of air and followed in pursuit of the glow-stone that Inuyasha still held in his hand.

Dropping the glow-stone at the bottom of the tunnel, Inuyasha sped up to air on the occupied side of the cave. Climbing out of the water, he shook off as much as he could, much to the chagrin of the early-risers in the group. Ignoring the glares and the sputtering fire, Inuyasha fished Shippou out of the water by the back of his soaked vest and shook him to get enough water off before plopping him down on his lap and wrapping his arms around the kit. Leaning against the wall by the pool, Inuyasha gestured to sleeping Kagome with his eyes before leaning back and closing his eyes. No one would be moving until Kagome woke up and transformed back to her hanyou form.

* * *

Looking up at the tall glass and metal structure, a handsome boy sighed and headed toward the front doors. Shuichi Minamino to most, Kurama to others, and Shippou to a very select few, walked up to the front desk and gave a charming smile to the woman of twenty-five or so that sat behind the receptionist's desk. "We've been expecting you Minamino-san. Please take the elevator to the twelfth floor and I will page Shiroi-san for you." With a small nod and smile toward the receptionist, Kurama walked to the waiting elevator. As soon as he pushed the button for the floor that he wanted and the doors shut, Kurama slumped against the metallic wall of the interior of the elevator. Rubbing his head, he wondered for what must have been the hundredth time that weekend, just what was he doing, called to one of the most prestigious buildings in all of downtown Tokyo. The elevator 'pinged' for the twelfth floor and Kurama straightened up as fast as he could, smoothing down his frazzled hair the best he could.

"Welcome to the Sho building, Minamino-san. Shiroi-san has been waiting for you. You can go up the stairs now." A second receptionist that smelled slightly of demon smiled up at him and pointed to the spiral staircase tucked in an alcove behind her desk. The walls were painted white, while the desk and wrought-iron spiral staircase were the only decorations in the hallway that led both left and right. 'What a snobbish place,' the Youko part of Kurama's mind spoke up, scoffing. Nodding internally, Kurama set his face in a determined expression as he climbed up the spiral staircase, the lights dimming until his surroundings started taking on only grey tones.

At the top of the staircase, Kurama was stopped by a door. Opening it, Kurama winced at the flood of light and put his hand up to shield his eyes. Allowing his eyes to focus, Kurama looked around and his breath caught. He recognized the figure looking out the window. His posture, his hair, his ears; he knew it was him.

* * *

In his sleep, Miroku pulled Sango closer, burying his nose into the softness of her hair. Opening his eyes slightly, he looked around and settled back down. After everything that happened yesterday and the previous day, it was best to take some time to relax and reflect. Inuyasha splashing around in the pool of water with Shippou; that was what all the noise was. Clenching his fist, Miroku touched his whole palm in absent amazement. Would he ever be able to fully understand that his hand was cured, that his family's curse was lifted, that death was no longer hanging over his head at every moment? Replacing his hand over the small of Sango's back, he kissed her forehead.

"_Houshi-sama, may I speak with you?" Sango stood over Miroku, rubbing her elbow in embarrassment, as if her red face wasn't enough of an indicator. Nodding, Miroku stood up and gestured to the tunnel. Giving Miroku a dry look, she gestured for him to go first and Miroku chuckled and rubbed the back of his head._

"_My apologies, dear Sango, I meant nothing but to be polite, but if you insist…" Miroku climbed through the tunnel first, turning around just in time to help Sango get out of the vines and stand. Jumping back from where Inuyasha and Yusuke were fighting about… something, Sango gestured off the other direction and started walking. Following shortly after, Miroku caught up and grabbed Sango's hand gently, allowing her to pull away if she wanted. Jumping slightly, Sango looked down and smiled shyly, squeezing his hand. _

_They walked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts about what was to happen in the near future. "H-houshi-sama?" Sango asked, pulling her hand out of his and rubbing her palm. _

"_Sango-san?" Miroku looked at her, a concerned look in his eyes, "is something wrong with your hand?" shaking her head, she put her hands down, but started pulling on her apron sub-consciously. _

"_I-I'm fine, really. Really, fine." Sango rambled, looking anywhere but at Miroku. He grabbed her hand, massaging it gently. _

"_No, you're not. Something's troubling you." Pulling Sango to a fallen tree, he helped her sit down. "Is it something that I did?" _

_Looking around, Sango took her hand back and set it lifelessly into her lap. "Yes… no… not really…"sighing, Sango slumped, staring at her toes. "Kagome-chan and Inuyasha have each other; it's only a time until they mate since they adopted Shippou and, well, what about us?" _

_Miroku looked at her curiously for a few moments before it dawned on him. Grinning, he looped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her junction. "Are you having second thoughts about our marriage, dear Sango? Or did I not actually say to you, on the shores of a river, that I would marry you when Naraku was killed?" Sango nodded dumbly, remembering what she only thought of as a fond dream. Kneeling in front of Sango, Miroku took her hands in his and smiled, kissing her fingertips. "Sango, my love, will you do me the honor of bearing my children?" _

"Aishiteru, my love," he murmured, staring at her fondly. Feeling more than seeing the rays rise on the horizon outside, Miroku caressed Sango's cheek softly, bringing her back to the world of the awake. Watching her eyes flutter open softly, Miroku smiled and stole a chaste kiss before sitting up. "It's almost dawn, Aishite (lovely), we should get up." Blushing, Sango nodded, allowing herself to be pulled to a sitting position before Miroku went to revive the dying fire.

Looking around, Sango watched as the others woke for the day. Surprisingly, Kohaku was up and helping Yusuke get breakfast supplies together for when Miroku had the fire going again. Sango remembered her younger brother being nearly impossible to get up in the mornings. Frowning slightly she thought of what other effects Naraku's influences had on the boy. Sure, he was quiet before everyone… left, but he seemed much more reserved than before. Kohaku also had a small mesh bag that Kagome kept in her backpack sitting next to his knees, filled with different edible plants. The boys, at least Kohaku, had been up and around for a while, gathering the various plants to supplement their breakfasts.

Sitting up and shaking his sleep off, Inuyasha looked up at the lightening blue of the sky through the smoke hole in the cave's roof. Walking over to Kagome, Inuyasha placed Shippou down by her side and whuffed gently, rubbing his knuckles by Kagome's ear. Blearily staring up at Inuyasha, Kagome gave a small growl and placed her nose back into her paws. Grinning, Inuyasha crouched so that he was closer to Kagome face. Giving a short bark, Inuyasha rubbed the top of Kagome's muzzle, careful to put minimal pressure on his claws. Giving a deep growl, Kagome moved her head and tail to wrap around Shippou—who was half-awake—and hide her nose from abuse. Giving the couple a questioning look, Sango stood up and decided to help the monk get the fire started again. For all of his efforts, any semblance of a flame seemed to elude him.

* * *

Inuyasha sensed the sunrise, used to paying attention to the daily cycles after so long on his own. Outside, he heard the chirping of the pre-dawn birds, confirming his suspicions. Staring at the sky for a few moments, Inuyasha stood up and stretched as much as he could while still holding Shippou in his arms. Walking over to Kagome, Inuyasha hid a grin::morning!:: he whuffed, too quiet for human ears. Getting no response, Inuyasha nudged Shippou enough to get him to let go of his haori and placed the kit down by Kagome's side. :: The sun rises:: Inuyasha commented again, louder and rubbing Kagome's head around her ear.

Looking up at Inuyasha dryly, Kagome huffed:: I know:: and closed her eye again. She had just managed to fall asleep from watching Shippou most of the night. Watching Inuyasha though slit eyes, Kagome growled as she saw his grinning face.

::We'll leave you.:: Inuyasha taunted, touching her muzzle to simulate a dominant bite. Jumping slightly, Kagome stared at Inuyasha for a moment before curling around Shippou.

::No, you won't.:: Kagome growled out, licking Shippou's cheek absently to clean him. Squirming, Shippou batted Kagome away futilely, finally just crawling up onto her back and settling down again. Nipping Shippou's tail playfully, Kagome pulled the kit off of her back and licked him again.

"Stop that Okaa!" shaking her head, Kagome whuffed a no and pinned Shippou down right as the sun passed the horizon outside and triggered the recession of her full demon powers. Groaning out, Kagome let Shippou go and curled up, panting.

Startled, Inuyasha brought Kagome into his lap and rubbed her back. "What's wrong?"

Shaking her head, Kagome took a few deep breaths and let them out slowly, still clutching her stomach. "Here's some water, Kag-chan," Yusuke handed her an un-opened bottle. Nodding her thanks, they touched fingers as she took the bottle. Discreetly sending some energy through the connection, Yusuke nodded. "It doesn't help recessing when you're tired in the first place, ne?" Inuyasha glared at Yusuke discretely, sending the boy a silent message.

Downing half of the bottle, Kagome nodded in agreement. "Blood issues. I'm surprised that I didn't pass out this time."

"Your reiki and youki don't blend well." Yusuke supplied, charging up his finger that at first his spirit bullet was red, then blue, then red again, sending a small threat right back to Inuyasha. Dispersing the energy, Yusuke nodded

"You've passed out before?" Inuyasha asked, helping Kagome to sit up better. Nodding, Kagome remembered times during her training on Avalon that a moon god or goddess would 'help' with her lessons by keeping the moon that shone on her one phase or another so that she could train in one form or another. In result, when there was the normal moon phasing, Kagome would sometimes become ill and pass out because of her blood attempting to purify itself. The small amount of energy that Yusuke passed her helped even out her blood better this time, but she was often able to manage it with a large amount of focused energy by now.

"It happens whenever I use too much energy when I'm 'full' demon. Don't worry about me!" Kagome chirped, standing up quickly. Swaying, she was caught by both boys and was led over by the freshly re-built fire as Kohaku started cooking some of the larger roots. Sango looked over at Kagome, concerned for her health, but Kagome just waved it off with a smile. "I'll be fine by tomorrow; I just need a little more rest, that's all." Using the last of the stew from yesterday, Kohaku put the cooked plants in the pot and added more water to make enough for everyone to eat. As soon as the stew was eaten, Kagome rinsed and put away the dishes in her backpack while the others smothered the fire.

Transforming the bag back into the earring form, Kagome held it up to Inuyasha, who shook his head and crossed his arms. "There's no way in hell I'm gonna wear that blasted thing!" he practically snarled at the golden object. "Besides, I don't have no holes in my ears!"

Smirking, Kagome dangled the earring carelessly. "You're right; you don't _not_ have any holes in your ears." Walking up to him, she snagged his ear and pulled it down to her eye level. "I pierced your ear the other day before we went into the lord's estate, remember." Sliding the backing into the small hole by the base of his ear, the earring was completely hidden by his hair. Flattening his ears back, they were covered by his hair. Patting Inuyasha on the cheek, Kagome smirked. "Think of it this way, it'll only last until the day after the new moon, then your body will heal the hole."

"Oi! What about me?" Yusuke pointed at his ear.

Sticking out her tongue, Kagome laughed. "You're stuck, dear cousin!" Yusuke gave an impressive growl and left the cave to wait for the others to exit.

Allowing the others to exit first, Inuyasha looked at Kagome and stared at her in concern. "Do you think you can crawl out?" nodding, Kagome allowed Inuyasha to lead out, keeping up with his crawling the best that she could. Sitting down about halfway through the tunnel, Inuyasha looked back at where Kagome was, "how are you doing back there?" Stumbling up to lay on Inuyasha's legs, Kagome mumbled something and groaned. "What did you say again?"

"You must be deaf or something Inuyasha, those ears aren't helping you at all." Kagome muttered, getting up to continue on. "I asked why you stopped."

Giving her a dry look, Inuyasha started crawling again. "You were falling behind." Kagome snorted and bit her cheek, keeping the rest of her tired comments to herself. At the end of the tunnel, Inuyasha didn't even allow Kagome to touch the ground, but swept her up onto his back without a second glance.

Kagome gave an indignant growl and pulled on one of Inuyasha's ears. "I can walk, you know."

"You're too damn slow." Inuyasha grumbled, walking off toward the direction of Kaede's village. "Let's go."

"We should go back and hurt that bastard of a village leader!" Yusuke suggested in one of his not-too-friendly ways. "The guy should pay for what he did to Kagome! And what of those other girls?"

Kagome looked down in thought, trying to find an easy way to break it to Yusuke. She opened her mouth, "no" Inuyasha said bluntly, "We aren't messin' with other people's business. It's their own issue to deal with." Blunt as usual, Kagome thought closing her eyes and resting her forehead on his shoulder heavily.

"Inuyasha's right Yusuke, we can't go around righting ever other person's problems." Kagome sighed, "but it would be nice to help everyone though." She commented wistfully before relaxing enough to attempt to sleep on the walk back 'home'. Inuyasha took the lead, silently signaling the others to follow. Miroku and Sango, hand in hand, followed closely after, followed by Kohaku and Shippou, and, lastly, Yusuke scuffed his feet before following at a distance. Sulking, Yusuke watched how the group ahead of him interacted. Realizing, after watching for the past few days, that Kagome was the safest that she could ever be within this small group versus even in their own time period. Yusuke shrugged, as far as Koenma was concerned, the Shikon was whole, Naraku was dead, and Kagome was living in this time period, period. There was nothing that the god-prince could do about it. Case closed.

Looking up, Yusuke heard a distinctive trill as a flying blue penguin landed on his head. "There you are Puu, I was wondering where you went." Yusuke stroked Puu's cheek and the bird nipped at his finger and trilled affectionately. Holding Puu in his arms, Yusuke looked up at the sky. "You're right, it is a good day to go fly." Placing Puu on his shoulder, Yusuke jogged up to Inuyasha and Kagome. "When Kagome wakes up, send Puu to me. I'll be _up_." Without waiting for a confirmation, Yusuke set Puu next to Kagome and fell back to where Sango and Miroku were walking. He asked to borrow Kirara for a few moments and let his wings out. Soon after, Yusuke was experiencing the freedom of flight for what he had the suspicion of being one of his last times.

* * *

Shippou walked by Kohaku, trying to get the quiet youth to talk. "Whatcha thinkin'?" the kit asked, alternating using his hands to scamper and skipping around the older boy. Standing up fully, Shippou was nearly half the size of Kohaku and still clumsy with his new body. Forgetting about his large, animalistic ears, he constantly hit them on the lower branches and passing bushes. Absently rubbing a sore ear, Shippou watched Kohaku's solemn face as he ignored Shippou once again. "You don't like me, do you?" Shippou asked, standing out in front of Kohaku and walking backwards.

Kohaku looked down at Shippou and frowned, "you're a demon, and you're younger than me. Why should I like you?" Inuyasha's ear flicked backward, catching their conversation in the making. Snorting, he readjusted Kagome on his back before continuing.

Puffing up, Shippou frowned back, "not all demons are like Naraku and his minions, Kohaku." He couldn't help but give Kohaku his cutest expression, "I'm too cute to hurt anyone anyway!" giving his version of an animalistic growl, Kohaku walked past Shippou and virtually ignored the boy. Hurt, Shippou walked in the back of the group, watching the others. Inuyasha was whispering something to the sleeping Kagome, Miroku and Sango were holding hands. "What about Kilala, do you hate her for being a demon?"

Kagome turned her ear to hear the boy's conversation. Unknown to all but Inuyasha, Kagome had been awake for a while now. Holding her breath, she waited for the slayer to respond. "Kilala's different." Kohaku commented, looking over his shoulder, refusing to stop walking. "Father said that the most untrustworthy demons had a human form."

"Kohaku!" Sango turned toward her brother, but he ignored her also.

Biting his lip, Shippou slid into his fox form and trotted to catch up to Kohaku. "Would you trust me better if I was like this?" the boy looked at Shippou and looked away dismissively. "I wouldn't hurt anyone unless they deserve it, why don't you play with me?"

Kohaku growled and swiped his hand toward Shippou, "leave me alone _kitsune_, go trick some other stupid human to fall into your traps." Startled, Shippou stopped walking and stared after Kohaku. Down the road, Inuyasha stopped and allowed Kagome to stand on her own feet. Murmuring something, Kagome patted Inuyasha on the shoulder and walked back to where Shippou sat, stunned. Sango, hearing the end part of the conversation also, grabbed Kohaku by the ear and dragged him off the road to sit underneath one of the trees for them to talk. Kneeling down to Shippou's level, Kagome rubbed behind his ear until he turned to look at her. His eyes watered and he jumped into her embrace, letting Kagome pet him and whisper what she hoped would be comforting words into his ear.

"I guess we're taking a break then, ne Inuyasha?" Miroku commented lightly, watching between the two children and women on opposite sides of the road. Stuffing his hands into the sleeves of his robes, Inuyasha nodded and jumped up into the tree that Kagome sat at the base of, comforting Shippou. Looking down the road, Inuyasha could see the far side of the forest that shared his namesake. Minutes later, Yusuke touched down heavily, wrapped his wings like a cloak, and looked around. Giving Kagome a questioning look, Yusuke silently asked what he missed. Touching Shippou's hair, Kagome gestured to the two boys and gave a helpless shrug.

Taking Kagome's chin in his hand, Yusuke looked into Kagome's eyes and frowned, "you haven't been able to get enough sunlight yet. Come fly with me." Yusuke pulled Kagome up and made her transform with a small shock of power. Fluffing her wings slightly, Kagome looked up at the sky momentarily before looking over at Inuyasha. "The runt can ride Puu if he wants to come also. And," Yusuke bent over to whisper to Kagome, "It might be a good idea to have some thinking time to himself and explore what he can do now."

"I don't care, we're almost back to the village anyway." Inuyasha commented, sensing eyes watching him. Inuyasha stared at Yusuke's eyes, daring him to allow Kagome get hurt while under his care. Nodding stiffly, Yusuke called Puu and the bird transformed.

"…apologize to Shippou when he comes back. He's a good kit, so be nice to him." Sango held Kohaku in her arms and laid her chin on his shoulder.

"But he's a demon."

"Demons still have feelings, little brother, just like humans. What if they just laughed at you for being a human?" Sango tried to reason with her brother.

"Then I'd kill them like I was taught to do."

"What happened to the shy little brother that I had?" Kohaku shook his head and rubbed his shoulder. Kohaku looked up at his older sister and she saw right then what had truly happened, what he remembered, in the dull stare of his eyes. The pain of the deaths of his entire family, living a half-life amnesiac while under the malevolent eye of Naraku, once he was revived, he could remember all of the pain that he caused. Sango held her brother tighter, as if she was afraid that her brother would disappear once again like he did so long ago after the massacre. "Shippou isn't like that; he's not trying to trick you. He just wants to be friends with you and welcome you into the pack that Kagome-chan has formed us into. He just wants to welcome you into the family. Think of him like a little brother." Sango laughed at Kohaku's dubious expression. "Give it time and try to forget about Naraku. You'll see that Shippou's not a bad child."

Inuyasha turned his head from the skies and down to the humans on the ground. He watched Sango rock the human man-child, Kohaku his mind supplied, and whispered to him. Miroku sat a few feet away under another tree, alternating between watching the skies and Sango. With a small grunt, Inuyasha jumped from the tree he sat in and gestured down the road, "The village is on the other side of the forest; we'll make it back by nightfall." Inuyasha turned and started walking away, silently gesturing for the others to follow.

* * *

After the initial launch into the air, Kagome hovered around Puu and Shippou, making sure that the kitsune wouldn't fall off. "Kag-chan, he's fine!" Yusuke called, looping around Puu to fly under Kagome. She watched the kitsune lean over Puu's neck, holding onto its mane of black fur that lined the back of its neck. An expression of delight crossed Shippou's face as he leaned over the other side of Puu's neck to watch the ground passing far below.

Yusuke knocked into Kagome, jolting her out of her panicked sentry over Shippou's health. "Yusuke you jerk!" she screamed and dove after him, skimming the treetops before shooting upward in chase. Yusuke sent a grin back in response and banked, pivoting on one wing to turn sharply and tugged on Kagome's wingtip as she attempted to turn to follow.

"C'mon slowpoke! Catch me if you can!" with that famous phrase from somewhere and nowhere at the same time, Yusuke sped off for Kagome to attempt to catch up. At the top of her arch, she stopped and hovered, looking around in wonder. Even riding on Kilala, she had never been able to actually look around Musashi's entire domain and stare in wonder at the greens and browns and blues of what she called home. Not even at the top of one of Inuyasha's leaps she could see so far around.

"It's so beautiful" she breathed, hovering in place the best she could while looking around. She could float on the air currants for all of eternity, watching the life below, and never grow tired. Suddenly Kagome started plummeting down to earth, her wings collapsed. She couldn't help but scream and struggle, her wings and arms pinned to her sides as she heard triumphant laugher in her ear. The thing that pinned her and was laughing snuggled her head for a moment before releasing its hold. Snapping her wings open, Kagome grunted as her muscles strained not to collapse her wings again. She finally managed to open her wings enough to glide twenty feet above the treetops, making her landing a bit rougher than usual when she managed to direct her fall into a clearing. Rolling a few times, she came to a stop looking up at the sky and an overly large bird circling in to land in the same clearing.

The bird was laughing. Oh, great, her attacker had a sense of humor at least. "You didn't land that badly!" a familiar voice chirped, it landed with a deep thump and walked over to where Kagome laid.

"Yusuke, if I didn't know that your girlfriend would kill me for it, I'd kill you for that," Kagome deadpanned, sitting up and staring at her cousin. He continued to laugh, dismissing the threat and nearly doubling over in his efforts. From out of the blue, Yusuke coughed and winced, holding his stomach. Looking up, he saw Kagome coming down softly after her roundhouse kick to his gut. Her feathers fluffed out, catching the slight breeze that ruffled them. Smirking at each other, Yusuke gave a slight nod, signaling the beginning of his retaliation. They traded blows, neither seriously injuring the other with their physical attacks.

"Mama and Yusuke-oji are at it again." Shippou muttered to Puu, slipping off the bird's shoulder to land on the ground underneath a tree circling the clearing. Puu trilled in agreement and transformed back to its smaller size, snuggling up to Shippou. Unnoticed by the fighting pair, Puu had landed on the edge of the clearing that the two angels had landed in, which also managed to be the same clearing that also held the Goshinboku and the Bone-eater's Well. Whether by design or by accident, the fighting pair was mere yards from falling into said well. Wincing at a particularly hard hit which made the duo closer to the well, Shippou nudged Puu and gave the beast a brief hug. "You might want to wait by the well; they look like… too late." Yusuke and Kagome pitched headfirst into the well and Puu screeched and bolted to follow quickly after.

Looking mulishly at the well, Shippou sighed and jumped up onto the rim to stare into the depths that held only bones in the bottom. Mama had forgotten to say goodbye again. At least she'd get him extra pocky in apology when she got back!

* * *

Sorry for being so late, but summer is always a hard time for me to update. I have to thank my reviewers that remember me even when I forget their names… in particular, I have a pair of sisters that PM'ed me: thank you for reminding me that I really needed to update, you know who you are!

Dark


	41. Death

Chapter 41: Death

Disclaimer: I only own the characters that you don't recognize. The ones that you do, belong to the Inuyasha and Yuyu Hakusho universes respectively.

* * *

Last time: Shippou nudged Puu and gave the beast a brief hug. "You might want to wait by the well; they look like… too late." Yusuke and Kagome pitched headfirst into the well and Puu screeched and bolted to follow quickly after.

Looking mulishly at the well, Shippou sighed and jumped up onto the rim to stare into the depths that held only bones in the bottom. Mama had forgotten to say goodbye again. At least she'd get him extra pocky in apology when she got back!

* * *

This time: Yusuke groaned, curling up on himself. Puu wasn't faring much better, but kept vigil on the pillow that was sat on the desk across from the bed that Yusuke sweated on. Kagome sighed as she rewet the rag she was using and placed it on her cousin's forehead. _At least_, she thought wistfully, _he now knows that he should stay away from time-traveling at all costs._

Gin knocked on the door, coming in a few moments later with a basket full of laundry. "Kagome, there's a young man with red hair at the door asking for Yusuke, should I send him away?" Shaking her head, Kagome stood up and gave her mother a small smile.

"Iie, it might be one of Yusuke's teammates. I'll go down and talk to him," she turned around, halfway out the door and grabbed a blue headband to hide her ears with. "What was his name again?" Kagome was still hesitant to perform glamour magic in front of her mother.

"I think its Shuichi or something. Handsome boy, if I do say so myself." Gin gave her daughter a wink.

"Mother, I'm with Inu, _remember_?" Gin smiled and turned back to putting her daughter's laundry away. With a sigh, she shut her bedroom door behind her, adjusting her headband to be the most comfortable they could be. Grimacing, Kagome gave up and glamour her ears away, tucking her headband into her skirt pocket at the head of the stairs. Taking a deep breath, Kagome analyzed the scents of the household, including the guest. "Kitsune… Hanyou?" she murmured to herself, gliding down the stairs and into the sitting room.

Kurama sensed the hanyou from upstairs enter the room as he stood up. Coming out of his polite bow, he extended a friendly hand, "My name is…" Kurama stared at her face, memories from long ago flashing through his mind. The face crying, laughing, angry, but most of all, smiling. "Shuichi Minamino. Most of my companions call me Kurama though." Kagome shook his hand with a smile and gestured back to the seats. She sniffed delicately, trying to identify the somewhat familiar scent that he was emanating. "One of my teammates, Yusuke, went missing a few days ago and—"

"Oh, so you work with Yusuke?" Kagome asked, deciding on where she had picked up his scent before. "Did he bring you here a little while ago?" at his affirmative nod, Kagome tilted her head. "Momma did say that my cousin had brought a few friends that she hadn't met before the first time. If he trusts you, I will also." Standing up, Kagome held out her hand to Kurama. "I was out visiting friends at the time or I would have met you earlier."

"We met a long time ago." Kurama muttered, setting down his tea cup.

Curiosity peaked; Kagome perked her invisible ear, "Nani?"

"Nothing," Standing up without Kagome's help, he waited for her to lead the way. Looking at her hand, Kagome shrugged before turning and leading Kurama up the stairs.

"Yusuke's not feeling too well right now and Momma's really protective when someone gets sick. I hope you didn't mind that she didn't let you up here immediately." Kagome shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder if Yus-kun has more enemies than friends."

"I've never known Yusuke to get sick before." Kurama commented before Kagome led him into a room that was covered in various shades of pinks and yellows. Yusuke lay in the middle of the bed with the covers thrown off. His limp hair stuck to his face, lending him a look that made him younger if not his true age. Someone had removed his shirt and changed his pants into a pair of deep green pajama pants.

"Yusuke's talked about you in his letters. You're a plant-based kitsune, correct?" Kurama nodded and immediately went to Yusuke's side, checking his pulse and temperature in response to the unasked question. Both were slightly high and at the light touches Yusuke woke up from his troubled slumber.

"Hey Kurama, I look like shit, don't I?" he asked blearily, closing his eyes again. Just as Kurama thought that the detective had gone back to sleep, he was startled by Yusuke continuing to speak. "Tell the toddler that when I get better, I'm stealing his pacifier and shoving it up his… heh." Yusuke grinned, his eyes still closed. "Sorry. Just tell him that I absolutely refuse to time-travel again. It doesn't," his words were cut off by another round of spasms, "it just doesn't agree with me."

"I can see that Yusuke," plucking a leaf off of a plant growing in his hand, Kurama placed it on the detective's tongue, "chew this, it'll settle your stomach." Kurama could smell the faint scent of vomit, despite the household's best efforts, in the form of a fan in the open window, to get rid of the smell. Gin finished putting away Kagome's clothing and left the room with a small smile behind her. Kurama watched as Gin left, a charming smile on his face as he offered to carry the laundry basket downstairs for her. After she gracefully declined, Kurama turned to Kagome with the same smile.

"You have such a beautiful illusion, Kagome, it almost hid how beautiful your real features are," he couldn't help but smile at the small blush that spread across her cheekbones as he presented her with a rose bud. Kurama's eyes flashed golden as his hair lightened with white streaks. "May I see the Kagome that I remember?"

Yusuke smacked Kurama upside the head from where he attempted to sit up in the bed. "Watch it, kitsune, she's unavailable."

Kurama turned back to Yusuke with a youthful smile. "I know. It's been over 500 years though." Kagome watched Kurama change into his Youko form, gasped and her hand hovered over her mouth in shock as the kitsune's scent changed to one that she recognized.

"Stupid pup." A shadow stood in the Goshinboku, staring down into Kagome's window. "He's gone and messed up the time line." The wind picked up and blew a lock of white hair that had escaped from its bindings into the shadow's face. Brushing the hairs away, the shadow disappeared with a sigh with others knowing none of his presence. Not even a trace of his scent was left behind for the gifted in the area to pick up on.

"Shippou…" Kagome breathed his name as the kitsune place his head in her lap. She pet his ears affectionately as she stared at the crown of his head.

"I changed my name after," Kurama cringed, warnings still ringing in his ears. _The timeline… she mustn't know… change… disaster!_ "After I grew up a little and I wanted to explore on my own."

Kagome stroked Kurama's hair and hummed. "I didn't want you to leave, did I?

Kurama paused, unsure on what to say. "Nobody wanted to separate, but I wanted to try something new on my own."

"That's understandable. I know this is weird, coming from your mother and all, but I'm doing practically the same thing now with my life in the feudal era. I don't _have_ to be there anymore, but I want to stay with Inuyasha." Kagome smiled sweetly. "You did come and visit when you could, didn't you?"

Kurama wrapped his arms around Kagome's waist, "I tried to, but it was hard after a while."

Kagome nodded in a maternal way, "I understand and that's all that I ask."

They fell into a comfortable silence as Kurama's hair darkened back into its human red coloring. "Youko wanted me to comment that I see that you got your beautiful looks from Obaa-san." Sensing her confusion, Kurama wanted to clear the situation before something happened, "Youko and I are two souls melded together into one body… but I can't tell you anything else until… later." Kurama gave Kagome an apologetic look and stood up, going over to Yusuke's side and tracing a feather on the back of his hand. "Hopefully that fades before your tan does, or everyone will ask about the new tattoo."

Yusuke grimaced, "yeah, that'll be a fun one to explain to Keiko."

"And also the fact that you were gone for a few days without telling her," Kagome spoke up, giving Yusuke a bottle of water. "She'll be absolutely _thrilled_ to hear your excuse this time." Choking on his bottle of water, Yusuke looked over at Kagome furiously. In retaliation, Kagome put her hands in a prayer position and looked at the ceiling. "Have fun!" she sang, subtly stepping back toward the door and away from the simmering Toushin.

"Come back here and face me like a man, you coward!" Yusuke yelled though the closed door. Kagome could only imagine his shaking fist.

Opening the door a crack, Kagome smiled at her cousin. "I'm a woman, remember. So how can I face you like a man, as you said?" she closed the door in time to avoid getting a slipper thrown at her head.

"That's mature, Yusuke," Kurama commented, making a show of rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Groaning, Yusuke slid back down onto the bed and pulled the blanket over his shoulders as he turned away. Sitting down on Kagome's desk chair, Kurama turned to pet Puu, who was looking only slightly better than Yusuke. "Koenma-sama sent us on another mission while you were away." He paused, waiting for Yusuke to reply. When he didn't, Kurama went on, "We're supposed to observe a hidden village of demon slayers that has been terrorizing peaceful youkai that live in the human world. They're led by K—"

"Kashisu, I know." Nodding, Kurama held out a folder for Yusuke to look at. "The bastard has parental rights over the summers for cousin Souta. Has him so scared of himself and everyone else by the end of the summer that I want to kill the human."

"We're just supposed to observe him for now, and deter him from any outright attacks in public." Yusuke scoffed, scanning over the small pictures and profiles of the various members of the village.

"I'll tell you now, the slayers train themselves specifically to hunt down and kill youkai. It's not strong, but each of them can sense full youki to one degree or another." Yusuke flipped a page and continued to scan, "I've observed them before and they didn't notice me, but a deer youkai that accidentally stumbled into the area around their camp. They used it as target practice."

"Since you know so much about them, what do you suggest?" Kurama asked, wondering if his thoughts were along the same lines as what Koenma had suggested.

"Kuwabara should go in first if we do decide to attack them. He could get in and out without raising any suspicions. Hiei would only attract attention to himself because of him being full youkai in his aura. You and I, on the other hand, we would only be noticed if we allow ourselves to be noticed. We hang back and help after Kuwabara's started the attack, if he does start to fight." Kurama nodded, listening to his suggestions. It was about the same as what Koenma had suggested in the first place.

"Why shouldn't I stand back with Hiei? Wouldn't I draw notice also?"

"As Kurama, you wouldn't draw any attention from them because of the human energy that overshadows your youki most of the time, but as Youko, you would draw attention almost faster than Hiei." Yusuke absently read the profile of one of the younger Taijiya, tracing his finger over the name. "If the toddler would have done his job correctly, you wouldn't have had to ask about how to watch them." They slipped into silence as Yusuke concentrated more on the profiles and statistics of the village. Closing the file, Yusuke leaned against the headboard and closed his eyes. "How…" he muttered, not opening his eyes.

After a few seconds, curiosity got the better of Kurama and he prompted Yusuke, "'how,' what?"

Opening his eyes half-mast, he turned toward Kurama, "How could an illusion and fire-based kitsune named Shippou become the silver bandit plant using kitsune named Youko Kurama?"

Closing his eyes, Kurama looked down at his lap and sighed, "Did you ever get to meet the priestess Kaede while you were there? I can't remember if you did or not." Opening his eyes, Kurama's eyes were the golden that was typical of any silver or golden youkai. Slipping into Youko's memories, he subconsciously turned the room into what he remembered of the past.

Yusuke stood in the clearing, just as he had seen it while he time-traveled with Kagome. Shippou stood sniffling at the edge of the well, slightly taller than what Yusuke remembered. Turning away from the well, Shippou walked though Yusuke, reminding him of his brief stint of a ghost. "I spent a lot of time at Kaede's house after Kagome… didn't come back." Kurama stood next to Yusuke, watching himself walk out of the clearing to the village. "not long after your visit, I remember Kagome giving me a bag of seeds, mostly rose seeds, and her telling me that a friend had told her to give them to me." The pair floated after the younger kitsune and watched as he pulled out a small brown cloth bag of seeds and stare at it. "Ever since I met Kagome, I started to learn herb lore with her from Kaede so I could help bandage everyone when they became injured during battle. I couldn't really do much else when I was that age."

The scene shifted to a field full of various herbs, "Kaede died in her sleep a few years after Kagome left, so I left." A pre-teen Shippou came into the scene from the other side of the field, waving at a very large demon with a horse-like face and huge blue eyes, tending to the garden. "I remembered an old friend that had helped us once when Kilala became sick. His name was Jinenji and he was a hanyou also. He taught me herb lore that I still use today and helped me develop some of my plant weapons, including my rose whip."

The scene changed to a version of Youko Kurama that Yusuke knew, but younger and his hair pulled up in its high ponytail still. His white robes were stained with blood because he was in the midst of a battle using the thornless whip in one hand and a grass blade sword in the other. His fur vest lay in shreds off to the side. "I continued to travel after I left Jinenji, not wanting to go back to Inuyasha's forest and face the village…" sighing, Kurama walked up to his younger counterpart and caressed his illusion's cheek. "I fell into thievery and after a while," a dark shadow fell over the battle as a pair of sickles sliced up some of Shippou's opponents. "I found out Shiori, a bat hanyou that we had met when Naraku was still alive, and Kohaku had a child named Kuronue." The bat demon smirked at Shippou before turning back to back with him. Quickly they wiped out the entire group of demon bandits. The bat demon scooped up the ruined fir vest and gestured it to Shippou.

"We became famous in the demon realm, stealing things of value just to prove we could. Kuronue and I were the best, or so we thought." The scene turned dark as Yusuke and Kurama watched Youko and Kuronue steal a mirror. "Kuronue died because of my overconfidence, and shortly after," the scene went white and the illusion faded back into Kagome's bedroom, "I died."

"Don't tell Kagome that you died, she'd never let you out of her sight." Yusuke smirked, remember that she did a similar thing when she found out that he had been resurrected (for at least a month) when she had gotten back to the future. Not only did she not let him out of her sight, she had even gone as far as to talk to Genkai to ease up on his training (not as if he didn't appreciate that at first, but still…).

"Yusuke," Kagome peeked her head into the room, "do you want any soup before I leave?"

Yusuke managed to sit up against the headboard to look at Kagome, "you're going back already?"

Nodding, Kagome smiled. "Yeah, I wasn't able to exactly tell the others that I'd be leaving when we did, and I have to apologize to Shippou… and then there's the wedding—"

If Yusuke would have been drinking something, he would have spit it out in shock, "W-wedding?"

"Yes, I have to help Sango get ready for wedding preparations. From the way they were acting, I'd say that Miroku finally asked her to bear his children!"

Kurama choked at that, trying to stifle his laughter. "W-what?"

Kagome scoffed, grabbing her bag and filling it with her various necessities. "Don't act like that Yusuke, it's about time that they actually got married and I intend to help!" Kagome stuffed some magazines of suspicious order in her bag, the one on top picturing a woman in a white gown and veil, holding a white bouquet. "I wonder if Kaede will do the ceremony, or would Miroku's foster-father do it? Oh, and I shouldn't forget pocky for Shippou also… do you still like strawberry pocky? I know it's been so many years…" Kagome led off, questioning Kurama with her eyes.

"I'm not afraid to admit, I do enjoy some pocky every once in a while when I can." Kurama blushed lightly and caught the package that Kagome tossed him.

"I have to get more anyway, so you can have that one." Looking down at the package that he held in his hands, he realized that it was strawberry crunch, his favorite as a child. "How I managed to hide that one from Shippou—you—this last trip, I haven't the slightest clue." Turning to Yusuke, she hiked her nearly overstuffed bag over her shoulder, "did you want any soup or not? Momma made some earlier for lunch; I think its homemade vegetable."

Yusuke feigned reluctance, "Fine, I guess I can have some," he crossed his arms and looked away, reminding her vaguely of Inuyasha.

"How about you?"

"I would love to have some soup, thank you." Kurama nodded in thanks, standing up.

Holding up a hand up, she grinned at Kurama, "No, that's okay. I have it." She shifted her bag to a more comfortable position and left, "I don't want to disturb your conversation," she commented lightly and closed the door. What the boys didn't see was Kagome's grim expression as she turned toward the stairs.

* * *

Sorry that this is a shorter chapter, but I liked the feeling this chapter leaves without ruining it with a major time-jump. See you all later! Dark Inu Fan 


	42. Seeds For Change

Chapter 42: Seeds For Change

Disclaimer: I would have thought this before: I obviously don't own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho.

Last time: Holding up a hand up, she grinned at Kurama, "No, that's okay. I have it." She shifted her bag to a more comfortable position and left, "I don't want to disturb your conversation," she commented lightly and closed the door. What the boys didn't see was Kagome's grim expression as she turned toward the stairs.

This time: "Kagome, honey, are you okay?" Gin asked, looking into Kagome's face as she came down the stairs. Standing up, Gin reached to stroke her daughters face, but she was pushed away gently by her daughter's delicately clawed hand.

"Yeah mom, I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."

"It doesn't look like 'just thinking' to me; what's bothering you?"

"I-I," Kagome hated lying to her mother, "I just overheard the boys talking, that's all." Kagome gave her mother a bright smile, though her eyes brimmed with unshed tears of worry, "Yusuke's boss doesn't give him much of a break lately. He has a mission to obser—look after something when he gets better." She wasn't lying technically, just not telling her mother what the real cause of her worry was. That was as good as the truth, right?

Gin gave Kagome a skeptical look, her head tilted into her closed palm, "whatever you say Kagome. When you want to tell me what really happened, you know where to find me." Kagome gave her mother a watery smile and hugged her tightly.

"I wish I could tell you." She murmured, almost below her mother's human hearing range, as she pulled away. Swiping her moist eyes, Kagome went into the kitchen to get Yusuke and Kurama's soup. Dropping her bag by the back door, Kagome tossed the cabinet's stock of ramen by her bag before reaching toward the pocky and other various snacks and supplies that her mother had hidden within the depths of the cabinet dedicated to Kagome's travels into the past.

Pursing her lips briefly, Kagome looked at her bag and its contents strewn all over the table before taking the soup up to the boys. Standing in front of her own door, Kagome sighed in exasperation and bent down to put down one of the soup bowls so that she could open the door, or at least knock. Halfway down, Kurama opened the door and gracefully took the bowls before she spilled them on the carpet. "Careful, 'Kaa-_chan_, I don't think you'd like the smell of soup in your carpet." He gave her a teasing smile and turned to put the bowls on her side table. Brandishing two spoons stuck handle-first in her jeans pocked, she handed the utensils to Kurama.

"Do you need anything from the store Yusuke? I have to get some more ramen and other stuff for my next trip." At the mention of the well, Yusuke turned a shade of pale green.

Shaking his head to bring his coloring back to normal, Yusuke looked into the soup that he idly stirred in his bowl. "Well, I guess I owe Auntie Gin a meal now, don't I? Can you bring back the usual groceries? I'll pay you back when I get my next paycheck, okay."

"You know you don't owe us anything, but if you insist… do you want me to pick up chicken or beef this time?"

"Do you know if the unagi is in season? If it is, could you pick up some." Yusuke said thoughtfully, "if not, the usual cut of beef."

"Unagi? Are you sure you want to try it with eel?" Yusuke shrugged and smiled.

"I said that I'd pay you back, cousin, and I meant it. Besides, you don't spend your money on anything but the cheap stuff anyway."

Trying to dissuade her cousin, Kagome turned toward Yusuke and frowned at him. "If I get unagi, you have to use it tonight and I doubt that Kurama-kun would let you out of bed.

"Actually…" he faltered briefly as Kagome leveled a stern look at him, "Yusuke can get up in a couple of hours safely. His body recovered from the time-travel already and his energy just needs to restore to its usual levels and he'll be good as new." Kagome growled in frustration and threw her hands up into the air before turning around and exiting.

"Fine, be that way. Don't expect me to catch you when you pass out in the kitchen!"

"I don't want you in the kitchen anyway, _water-burner_." Yusuke goaded, sounding almost exactly like Inuyasha, just without the 'feh' in the beginning.

Kagome's growling ceased and she turned around, pinning Kurama with a cavity-inducing face. "Kurama-kun, would you like to stay for dinner tonight? I'm sure that Yusuke," she shot a warning glare at her cousin, which he shot right back, flicking his eyes to Kurama briefly, "wouldn't mind making enough for you also."

Kurama gave Kagome a winning look, "I must decline this time, 'Kaa-chan. My human mother wishes to have dinner with the entire family tonight and I am afraid that I must leave soon or I'll be late." Kagome nodded with a genuine, but disappointed, smile on her face.

"I will see you again soon, okay?" Kagome asked, giving her adopted son a hug, "and be nice to the poor woman that can deal with you." Kurama nodded and hugged Kagome back.

"Here's my number," Kurama handed Kagome a card with his number and address on it. "I live on the other side of Tokyo, so maybe we could meet somewhere in the middle next time."

Kagome nodded, studying the card "Shuichi Minamino? I heard about you when I'm able to manage to go to school. I think Eri's in your official fan club's branch at my school." Blushing, Kurama sputtered as he tried to explain himself but Kagome waved him off. "I'm just giving you a hard time, Kurama-kun; now go before your mother starts worrying about you, okay? It takes a while to cross town, you don't want to be late." Nodding dumbly, Kurama allowed Kagome to push him out the front door with a smile.

"Oh, Kaa-chan, when are you going back?" he asked swiftly before the door was shut on him. Kagome shrugged and leaned on the partially open door.

"I don't really know. I was thinking of staying tonight and heading out tomorrow morning sometime. It all really depends on Inuyasha though." Kurama nodded and turned to leave.

"Call when you get back, okay. Maybe we can go on a 'date' Mama," Kagome couldn't help but laugh at the teasing tone in Kurama's voice, as well as the wink he gave during his offer.

"It's a 'date' then Kurama-kun." Kurama waved over his shoulder and headed down the shrine steps two at a time.

Going back inside, Kagome grabbed her purse and her mother's grocery list and headed to the local store to pick up the night's ingredients. "… Unagi…" she mused, shrugging, "he must have been experimenting at Keiko's parents' restaurant again." Shrugging, Kagome couldn't complain. Unagi was relatively cheap this time of year and it tasted good also. Skipping halfway down the steps, she decided to slide down the smooth side edges of the stair well. It had been a while since she had felt the rush of racing down the slide opposite of Yusuke or Souta on their way out to do something. There had even been a time a few years ago that Yusuke lived with his cousins and went to the same school. Atsuko, Yusuke's mother, was having a few issues and her sister had invited both to stay with her a while. Atsuko stayed, saying that she had to deal with her own problem and, from what Kagome could tell at the time, had all but rejoiced when Yusuke 'the worthless kid' had left to stay with Gin and the rest of the family.

Jumping into the grass before the bottom of the stairs, Kagome avoided hitting the Torii pole head-on. Experience had told her that hitting the pole at _any_ speed hurt. Turning left at the sidewalk, Kagome headed to the nearest store that she knew would sell all of the things she needed to get for the night. She couldn't help but smile, for she was a typical teenage girl at heart, 'time to shop.'

* * *

"Kagome!" Gin called, peering out of the kitchen toward the front door, wiping her hands dry, "Can you come here a moment." Kagome froze, half way to the front door, big yellow bag in hand.

"Yes Momma?" glancing to the front door, she cringed at the tongue-lashing that she'd get from Inuyasha for making everyone wait. What was the big deal anyway? It's not like they had to worry about beating Naraku to the last jewel shards anymore. Dropping her bag, Kagome faced her mother and tried to smile, but she only managed a grimace.

"Do you think you could run out and get some kitty litter really quick? I forgot to put it on the list before you went out shopping last night." It wasn't a request; it was an order to stall Kagome from going over to the other side of the well. She couldn't help but groan as she took the bills that Gin held out for the purchase and sulk out the front door.

It was a beautiful day outside and the modern era tended to reflect the weather in the feudal era on most days. Inuyasha would have liked to head out and travel early on this type of day, before the heat of the day stole their energy during the noon hours. Inuyasha would be no doubt waiting for her in the modern era by the time that she got back from finding the special brand that Buyo used and refused to use any other brand. Grabbing the biggest bag she could that the bills that Gin gave her could pay for, she bought the kitty litter and headed home, sneezing once or twice as her sensitive nose picked up the scent of sawdust and cramped animals in the confined space of the pet store.

"I'll carry that for you," a set of hands grabbing the bag out of her hand snapped her out of her stupor. Staring up at the face that her mind said should have belonged to Hojo; she was surprised that Kurama was the one that had said the Hojo-like phrase.

"Hojo, I can deal with my own—oh, Kurama-kun, what are you doing on this side of town this early?" Kagome allowed Kurama to carry the kitty litter bag and led her back to the shrine.

"I wanted to catch you before you left and your mom said that you were still asleep, so I hoped..."

"You can call her Obaa-chan if you want, it would just make her day if you did that," Kagome interrupted, climbing up the stairs. "Now _why_ did you come so early again?" shifting the bag of kitty litter to free one arm, Kurama dug into his side pocket.

"I wanted to catch you before you left so I could give you this," he said, holding up a small simple satchel filled with something. "Actually, I want you to give this to my younger self..." he fidgeted slightly, "say it's from a friend." Seeing Kagome's questioning look, he put the bag down on a nearby bench so that he could pour some of the contents of the smaller bag into his hand. "They're seeds. I spend most of last night picking which ones to give to… myself, for starting my plant training. There are mostly rose seeds that I've worked on crossbreeding over the years, and there's a few others that might come in handy eventually." He pointed out the miniscule seeds that looked like black dots in his hands. "I hope that's okay, Okaa?" Kurama looked up from the seeds to seek approval in his mother's eyes. She nodded faintly, taking the tightly closed satchel and storing it in her pant pocket.

"I'm going to leave you soon, won't I?" biting his lip, Kurama picked up the bag of kitty litter and walked the rest of the way to the house with Kagome trailing behind. "Shippou-kun, what's going to happen, please tell me."

Looking away, Kurama deposited the kitty litter bag next to the shoe rack inside the door. "I'm sorry mother, I can't tell you."

"You can't or you won't." Kagome put her hand on his shoulder and he turned away.

"A little of both. I don't know when it'll happen, or even what happened. All I know is that Inuyasha told me not to tell you anything." Firming her gaze, Kagome hugged her son.

"Thank you Kurama-kun. I hope that I'll be able to see you soon, alright?" vaguely nodding, Kurama shut the door behind himself and walked off of the shrine grounds. Hugging herself, Kagome closed her eyes and faced the door, trying to calm her breathing and heart rate.

"Kagome, honey, are you okay?" turning, Kagome gave her mother a watery smile and wiped one of her eyes.

"Yeah momma, I'm fine. I'm going to go get dressed and go now, okay?" giving her daughter an unsure smile, Gin nodded and moved off to the side of the hallway.

"Kagome, you know that I'll always be right her for you, okay?" hugging her mother briefly, Kagome muttered an 'I love you' and ran up the stairs to her room.

Quickly getting dressed in the feudal attire, Kagome held up her haori and decided to leave it on the bed. If she was eventually going to disappear, she was going to leave one of her most valuable things behind so that her mother could take care of it. Leaving her window unhitched, Kagome left out her door, only stopping briefly to stare at her mother in the kitchen and to grab her large yellow bag. Little satchel in hand and large backpack strapped to her back, Kagome jumped down into the well before she lost her nerve to the possibility of never seeing her family again. "No, that's not true. Inuyasha and the others are my family also." Landing in the bottom of the well, Kagome jumped out and landed safely on the grass in the meadow. "One thing I have to say about being a hanyou, I don't have to climb out of the well anymore."

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Kagome sniffed the surrounding area. She gave herself a small smile. Everyone was at the village this time of the morning, helping Kaede make some of the stew from the previous night into porridge with rice to thicken it. From the smell of it, Shippou and Inuyasha had stayed the night, but had only left an hour or so beforehand. Taking the trek at a slow pace to calm her nerves, Kagome smiled as she neared the village. Various farmers that were at first wary of her change (and even before that the fact that she wore strange clothes) waved at her as they looked up from weeding their rice paddies.

"Hello Kagome-sama! You did not come with the others last night?"

Kagome shook her head and waved, "Hello Nobisu, good to see you again. I had to take care of something last night, but I'm here now!" Kagome walked off before the villager could keep talking. He was a kind villager, but Kagome was wary of allowing him to talk more than a greeting after one time of being roped into helping him weed his patty once. That was one thing that she would like to avoid to do in most cases. Even from the fields on the opposite side of the village, Kagome could smell Kaede's cooking carried on the wind. Smiling, Kagome couldn't wait to see the others even though she had only been gone for an entire day.

Inside the hut, Inuyasha tilted his chin up slightly, sniffing the air discreetly. "Kagome-okaa's back!" squealed Shippou, running out to meet Kagome halfway through the village. Kaede looked up at Inuyasha and he nodded and started to get up lazily. Exiting, Inuyasha came back in a few moments later with Kagome's bag flung over his shoulder.

"They'll take a while. Kagome wants to talk to Shippou first." Nodding, Kaede sat the bowl that she had scooped out for Kagome near the fire for it to keep warm.

Outside, Kagome hugged Shippou and started to walk back to the Goshinboku. "I was hoping to talk to you, Shippou."

"Am I in trouble Momma?" grinning, Kagome hugged Shippou and tweaked one of his overly-large fox ears.

"No, but is there something that I should know about?" fidgeting, Shippou dug one of his paws into the dirt and looked away.

"He attacked me first Momma! I didn't mean to hurt him…"

"Shippou, what happened?"

"We were sparring, Momma, and Kohaku said something… I'm sorry Kagome-okaa." Kagome nodded, accepting his apology.

Reaching the tree, Kagome touched the scar in the bark left by Kikyo's arrow. "Let me tell you a secret Shippou. Only those with a guilty conscious assume that the rest of the world knows that they are guilty. My mother told me that and I'm telling you now. You two were sparring, so of course one or both of you is going to get injured. There's nothing to feel guilty about, just learn to keep your head next time, okay?" Shippou nodded and Kagome scooped him up for a big hug.

"Now, the reason I brought you out here was to give you a present from one of my friends in my time. I've told him about you and he thought that you might like this." Holding out the plain brown bag, Kagome took a pinch of seeds and spread them on her open palm. Shippou didn't look too impressed, but Kagome kept on talking. "They're mostly rose seeds, but there are some other plant seeds in here also that you can use. I don't know what all the seeds can do, so you'll have to learn on your own."

"… But I'm a fire-type kitsune momma. I can't use these seeds. What am I supposed to do with these?"

Kagome shrugged, hiding a small smile. "Use them. I've heard of youkai being able to train themselves to use powers that they were not born with, especially after acquiring exposure to the opportunity to use different elements. I've even heard of some kitsune changing their element as they have gotten older, so it's not that unheard of." Pouring the seeds back into the satchel, Kagome kept one seed out and placed it into Shippou's paw. "Why don't you just try to sense the seed for now and if you can't, I'll give the seeds back, okay.

"Do you know why I brought you here?" she didn't let him answer, "I brought you here because this tree represents new beginnings for me. With Naraku gone, there will eventually be different things out there that you have to fight, whether physically or mentally, and I hope that you'll be able to face them and win. Just know that if I can't be there for you physically, I'll always be there in your heart." She touched his heart and smiled. "I know that I'll never be able to fight for you forever, but I have a feeling that my friend was right about using plants. Just try it for now, okay?"

Closing his eyes dutifully, Kagome wrapped her hands around his paw and concentrated. She pushed her ki into her hands enough to be able to sense the seed that Shippou grasped. She felt the seed latch onto her ki and react, bursting from its protective outer shell. Drawing back her ki and hands, Shippou stared down into his paw and saw the miniscule plant that started to grow. Slowly at first, the thorn-less vine wrapped around his hand and up his arm. Stopping midway, it soon withered and disintegrated, leaving nothing behind. Frowning at his hand, Shippou held up the lack of plant for her to see.

"See, my friend was right, wasn't he?"

"Is he a kitsune like me, I smell a kitsune hanyou on you." Digging out another rose seed, Shippou tried again to get the rose vine to grow. This time is was slightly more difficult without Kagome's help.

"Actually, he's a kitsune avatar and a friend of Uncle Yusuke. I've actually met him only a few times and he reminded me of you. I told him about you and he gave me some of the seeds that he uses to fight with."

Shippou looked surprised, "he can fight with plants?"

Kagome nodded her head, "Yes, Yusuke told me all about how he could fight with plants, although I've never really seen him fight before, I heard that he was a really good fighter too. Maybe you might get to meet him someday if you're good, okay?" nodding, Shippou put the seeds away as his second rose vine exploded in his grasp. "Don't worry, you just have to practice keeping your energy levels steady and you'll be able to keep the plants longer." Sniffing, Kagome couldn't help but smile. "We should go, I think breakfast's ready." Shippou nodded and leapt up to race Kagome back to the village, but staggered and tripped before he could get too far.

Kagome couldn't help but to laugh at Shippou's misfortune. "Be careful Shippou, you used too much energy with the seeds. I guess we have to work on energy moderation now, don't we?" Kagome smiled and picked up Shippou. "But first, breakfast!" Kagome leapt off, back to the village.

Walking into the hut, Inuyasha looked up from the corner as Kagome walked in with Shippou in her arms. "I can smell the runt from your time. What was he doing in the shrine?"

"Yusuke got sick because of the time travel and Shuichi is a friend of his that just happens to be a plant user that knows some medicinal herbs to help him." Glancing down at Shippou in her arms, she warned Inuyasha silently not to bring up the fact of Shippou being in her time in front of the kit.

Nodding toward the fire pit, Inuyasha pointed attention to Kaede. "Obaa saved you food if you didn't have breakfast yet." Taking the bowl from Kaede, Kagome thanked the old woman and sat down to eat.

"Yusuke-sama got ill?" Miroku prompted, waiting until Kagome had finished most of her meal. "Does he not have both human and demon blood in him also?"

Kagome nodded and set her hashi across the top of her bowl. "Yusuke's not exactly hanyou, but he does have diluted human blood in him… but I don't think that was the entire issue. Yusuke's just more sensitive to it since he doesn't have direct demon/human parents, I think, I think that the well's time stream might be collapsing." Her revelation was met with silence.

"That does make sense Kagome-sama. How much time do you think you have left with us?"

Kagome looked Miroku in the eyes, trying not to cry. "I don't know. I honestly don't know. This could be my last trip, or I could be able to use the well for another year or more. I don't know." Sango hugged her sister, shedding tears that Kagome couldn't manage.

"Sango-chan, I just hope that I'm able to help with the wedding before I'm unable to use the well anymore."

"Wedding?" Sango asked in mild shock, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"Yours and Miroku's. Since there's nothing really stopping you now from getting married, right?" Sango glanced over to Miroku and blushed.

"Well…"

"Great! I brought some magazines from my time to help you with your decisions. Do you want a traditional wedding, or do you want to try something from my time?"

"your time…?"

"Have you picked out what your wedding rings are going to be like? The design of your kimono?

"Rings…?" Sango gave Miroku a pleading glance as she attempted to stop Kagome's wedding plan rampage, but the girl was too far gone, showing different earmarked pages that showed various women in different dresses and holding bouquets of flowers.

"Um… Lady Kagome… we were thinking of having my master doing the ceremony after Sango sees if she can recover her family's wedding kimono from her village. We don't really want to burden anybody with anything too large, just a small ceremony."

"But…!"

"Please, just something small." Sighing, Kagome closed the magazines and put them all away except for one. With red felt-tip pen cap clasped in her jaws, she started looking through the book, circling various things and completely ignoring everyone else.

"Actually," Sango cringed when she saw one doggie ear twitch toward her and then turn completely away, "Miroku, Kohaku and I were planning on heading out later today if you hadn't had shown up…"

"Go ahead and go. I'm not stopping you." Kagome looked up from her magazine and smiled a cavity-inducing fake smile, "Have fun out there children! And try not to do anything dangerous, okay?" ducking behind her magazine again, the others got the distinct impression that they were dismissed and Kagome was not happy… maybe it had something to do with how her ears were hidden underneath her hair and the fact that she wasn't even focusing on the magazine any more, but trying to burn holes through it with her vision. She didn't take her magazine down until she heard the humans leave, taking Kirara with them. She didn't see the sad, almost in tears, expression that her sister had in her eyes as they left.

Watching them leave, Inuyasha waited until he saw Kirara take off before crawling over to Kagome. "Kagome," Inuyasha pulled the book away from Kagome's face, smelling her tears. Launching herself at Inuyasha, Kagome started bawling into his haori, unable to contain herself any longer. Startled at first, Inuyasha slowly started running his claws through her hair in an attempt to calm her.

"I-I'm ne-ever gonna see them ag-gain-n!" she hiccupped, futilely trying to wipe her tears away. Growling softly, Inuyasha shook his head, "Ev-ery one's-s gonna leave me!"

"That's not true, I'm right here." Inuyasha murmured, placing his chin on her crown.

"Ahem!" Kaede cleared her throat as she stood up. "Shippou, why don't ye join me in my rounds?" Shippou took the hint and went out the door with Kaede, leaving the young couple by themselves.

Waiting until Kaede and Shippou left, Inuyasha scooped up Kagome and headed out the door. "I promise, I'm not going to leave you, even if it takes 500 years for me to get you back." Inuyasha kissed Kagome's forehead, sealing his promise forever in his mind.

* * *

End of this chapter. I promised a friend of mine that she could do a Lemon for this fic, so if you want, you can look for it when I tell you to on a separate Mediaminer file. The next chapter will be the edited (extremely, totally, very edited) version of the lemon when she is able to write it.

Thanks for sticking with me through my writer's block!

Dark Inu Fan


	43. Lost Chapter

Marks 43: The Lost Chapter

I am so, so sorry that this is so, so, so late… it's not my fault! I asked one of my friends if she would like to write a lemon for this fic (a gift for everyone 18+ and some of my other friends)… problem is, she didn't have complete access to a computer and hadn't actually _read_ my story before… This was back in what, November? Well, she gave the lovely lemon to me the other day, after reading this entire online novel and it is so good it almost makes up for some of you asking if I was dead and threatening for me to update… (More on that possibly later…) Now that I have her lemon to work with, I promise that I will get out at least the next few chapters relatively quickly, since they have been stewing on the back burner for so long.

Oh, and I still don't own Inuyasha… but I've finally read all of the current chapters!

* * *

Last time: Waiting until Kaede and Shippou left, Inuyasha scooped up Kagome and headed out the door. "I promise, I'm not going to leave you, even if it takes 500 years for me to get you back." Inuyasha kissed Kagome's forehead, sealing his promise forever in his mind.

This time: Inuyasha continued to hold her in his arms, as they got farther and farther from the village. The sun was beginning to set, only just casting its rays at an angle to illuminate the leaves on the trees. The earth smelled fertile green and lush brown, and the gentle scent of her intended surrounded her in comfort. Kagome drank it all in, holding it to her memory. It had been so long since things were peaceful, she felt like she just had to keep this one moment. What if it was the last time before...

"Inuyasha..." She breathed, nuzzling close to his chest. He stopped and looked down at her, almost surprised. Very carefully he set her down, his hands at her waist still keeping their bodies close. He was so warm.

"Kagome? Are you alright?" She looked up at him, a soft smile on her lips. His eyes were so bright, just now. The fading light was making his hair absolutely glow. She couldn't help herself, she just had to touch it. Like silk in her fingers... "Kagome..." The hanyou was cut off by a clawed finger.

"I love you." She whispered. Something moved behind his eyes, something soft but harsh, gentle but possessive. Something that drew her closer, until her lips touched his. A sweet kiss.

The simple gesture set loose something latent in their blood. A whisper, but insistent, and her lips parted in time with his. Their kiss deepened, and his arms wrapped tighter around her. Her body was so soft, so supple, he wanted to be so much closer...

"Kagome..." He half whispered, half whimpered.

"Don't... I'm not running anymore." Her voice was thick and husky, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. But despite the goosebumps raising on his arms, he held himself in check. Just to make sure...

But her eyes were shining, and Kagome's claws had already entangled themselves in his hair. The fierce submission flashed in her eyes, and the demon in Inuyasha answered the body language of his mate. They locked again in a fierce, passionate kiss, fighting for dominance.

As suddenly as the heat rose between the two of them, Kagome bit Inuyasha's neck hard and backed away. _Are you worthy to be the mate of a wild creature like me?_ She snarled, a challenge. The sharp grin of the hanyou matched the smile in his heart. His love was strong, his beautiful mate... it made him proud.

_You shall see who is worthy. Submit, my mate. It is your place._ He lunged forward, grabbing her wrist as she reached forward to slash at his throat. At the same time, his other arm caressed her throat. She closed her eyes a moment, then remembered herself.

Not in time; he pressed her up against the nearest tree, hands past her to rest against the bark, so close she could feel his heartbeat. Her breath caught at the intense stare in those eyes, unknowing that her own matched them. Their mouths met again, and Inuyasha felt her will bend to his.

"I love you..."

Inuyasha's hands held her face as he said those words. Kagome almost cried, it felt like her chest was so tight her heart would burst. Nothing she could say would ever relate this feeling. She wanted to belong to him and him alone, wanted him to feel the same.

He heard her thoughts as warmth and desire, and saw it in her eyes. Slowly his fingers slid down her cheeks, gliding down her throat, to slip underneath her collar. She gasped softly at the touch that sent shivers through her body. Everything turned sensitive, from her hearing to all the smells to the proximity of his body to hers...

_(Sorry, 18+ section removed. See end note.)_

She clung to him, their bodies covered in sweat and warm earth. He held her trembling body close. His love, his mate. "I love you, Kagome. I love you, my mate."

"I love you, Inuyasha."

* * *

Kagome opened her eyes softly, not able to help the musical giggle that came from her lips. Nipping Inuyasha on the jaw, Kagome rolled over and looked beyond her mate for a moment. Floating beyond them was a haze of pink mist, surrounding them in muted pastel, lit by the sun dipping beyond the horizon. "Mmm… what?" Inuyasha barely cracked an eyelid before planting a soft kiss on Kagome's smiling lips.

Pulling back enough to look at Inuyasha's tanned face, Kagome couldn't help but look down at her mate. Smiling, she nipped his lip and propped herself up on her elbows. "oh, I was just wondering when I put my barrier up…"

"Wha…" looking around reluctantly, Inuyasha snorted at the pink mist and pulled Kagome back down into his arms. "Pink?" Kagome attempted a shrug, but her excuse was cut off by another series of sweet kisses, trailing from her lips to her jaw. One hand reached up and caressed her ears, her moan of pleasure turning into a playful growl.

_Two can play at that game_, Kagome thought as she reached up and started tweaking both of Inuyasha's ears. "Want it neon yellow next time?" eyes falling to half-mast, Inuyasha tried to give her a dry look as he flipped so that she was on the forest floor. The leaves from last fall contrasting with her skin beautifully.

"No, why did you put up a barrier this time…"

"Would you want Shippou or another one of the villagers to see us like this?" propping himself up, Inuyasha took a look around and took a sniff of the air. They hadn't gotten as far from the village as he had thought…

Sighing, Inuyasha fell bonelessly beside Kagome, his arm around her torso. "How long can you hold this up?" He murmured, giving her junction a small lick.

Shuddering, Kagome ran her claws down Inuyasha's back, lightly scraping his spine. "A few hours easy, wh…" her sentence was cut off by Inuyasha's lips on hers and his hand running up and down her side, circling at the scar on her hip. Squirming to get away from his hand, Kagome's squeal was cut off by Inuyasha's smirking lips.

Pulling back, Inuyasha smirked down at Kagome, letting her catch her breath, "Soundproof?" Barely nodding once, Inuyasha shifted to one hand and used the other to run the back of his claw down her side, wrenching a high-pitched squeal from her throat as she tried to push the ticklish hand away. Using his other hand, Inuyasha pinned both of her hands above her head and out of the way. Placing his tickling hand under her breasts, he pinned her down lightly enough that she could break away if she really wanted.

"No, no, no, no, Aah!" Inuyasha swooped down and licked under where her human ear would be, earning a shudder from his mate. "Inu-Inuyasha," her eyes squeezed shut, trying to hide that that spot felt _really good_. "Sh-shouldn't we be getting back?" Inuyasha took the hand pinning her body down and tipped her face toward him, kissing her silent.

Shaking his head, Inuyasha looked at Kagome curiously, looking much like an overgrown puppy, "why?"

"Shi—"

"Kaede's taking care of Shippou," Inuyasha cut her off between kisses, "and everyone else is heading to their village before heading to Mushin…" At the mention of Miroku's foster father, Kagome turned away to try to hide her upset. "What's wrong?" After a few more butterfly kisses trailing her collarbone and no reaction, Inuyasha sat up, bringing Kagome into his arms.

"Miroku and Sango's wedding…"

"We're going to meet them at the temple. Sango wanted to ask you for help… Something about her kimono or something like that…" nodding, Kagome squirmed out of Inuyasha grasp and crawled over to pick up her clothes. Catching her wrist, Inuyasha held her close, "Where are you going?" His free hand trailed down her side, tugging her hand that subconsciously came up to cover her nudity.

"We should be getting back, it's getting dark…"

"Afraid?" Smirking, Inuyasha brought her face up to his and smirked, revealing one of his fangs as the last rays of sunlight glinted off his slit pupils. "You forget, this is _my_ forest. We _are_ the demons here." Kissing her, Inuyasha stooped to gather his fallen robes, bundling them up instead of putting them on. Doing the same with Kagome's, but with slightly more care, he gave the two outfits to Kagome to hold before scooping her up in his arms and leaping off the opposite direction of the village. Gaping like a fish, Kagome couldn't decide what to say and settled for a blush and looking to where Inuyasha was heading.

The forest became gradually denser, hiding the clearing that he jumped into, landing beside a small pond. Sniffing around a few seconds, Inuyasha nodded his head and let Kagome down. "Wh…" Inuyasha turned to Kagome and tapped his nose.

"Shippou," Turning back to the pond, Inuyasha gestured Kagome to put down their clothes and led her to the edge. Stepping in carefully, she found that the bottom was shallow stone worn smooth by the creek that fed warm water into the natural basin. "I found this back before Kikyo…" Inuyasha slipped into a hole that was big enough for both to spread out comfortably and deep enough that they couldn't touch the bottom with their feet. Dipping under, Inuyasha brought up a handful of smooth gravel that had been there a long time. "One of the hot springs that the humans use feeds into this pond. It's not as hot, but it's good enough."

Kagome slid into the pond also, bobbing down a few feet and still not touching the bottom, she felt the slight swirling motion at the bottom and decided to come back up. Turning to prop her arms on the edge, she looked at Inuyasha's hopeful expression. "This is… Nice." She murmured, setting her chin on her arms and letting her body float. Swimming over, Inuyasha held the handful of smooth gravel and touched her back gently, startling her out of the trance she had fallen into. "Wha—ohh…"

Rubbing her back, Inuyasha scrubbed it gently with the stones he had gathered before dropping them to work out her kinks more thoroughly. Starting at her shoulders, his movements went downward slowly, working her into putty in his hands. Her trance was so deep that she didn't notice when he moved away to quickly scrub himself with a new handful of gravel. Glowing red from his hurried cleaning, Inuyasha came back up and propped himself up on the edge next to where Kagome floated, waiting until she noticed he wasn't in the pit anymore.

"Mmm?" Looking up at Inuyasha curiously, he gestured for her to come up also. As she did so, he continued her massage on one arm then the other, first scrubbing gently with gravel he had brought up. Slipping back into the pond, Inuyasha tugged gently on one leg, then the other, working from her foot up, stopping hesitantly above the knee, trailing his hand gently up to her waist. "I'll finish up." Nodding, Inuyasha moved out of the way as Kagome dove for her own fistful of gravel to finish scrubbing.

As they got out of the pool, Inuyasha couldn't resist shaking himself dry. Looking over, he blushed at the dry look that Kagome shot him, wringing out her hair in a much more human-like way. "Sorry?" All he got in response was Kagome's rolled eyes and her flipping her hair over to shake out the rest of the water with her hands. "Here," Inuyasha tossed his Haori at Kagome and felt some wet spots on the surprisingly soft fabric, "dry off with that." Kagome looked at him questionably, but he was already tying his hakama back on, turned away to give her some semblance of privacy. Shrugging, Kagome fluffed her hair and proceeded to pat-dry her body gently… she was still sore, but she was glad for her hanyou healing.

"Ready?" Was the only warning she got as she finished securing her undershirt under her obi. Inuyasha picked her up and sprang into the forest, back to the village.

"I can run myself, you know," Kagome huffed, crossing her arms.

"I know," Inuyasha grinned, tracing small circles with his thumb.

"Then let me down." Shaking his head, Inuyasha leapt higher into the next tree, continuing to move toward the village.

"…Where's your haori?" Inuyasha asked, not looking at Kagome, missing the slight guilty expression that crossed her face. The touched down at the edge of the village, Inuyasha walking at an unhurried pace to Kaede's hut. Fidgeting with Inuyasha's moist haori, Kagome didn't dare look at Inuyasha in the eye.

"I left it with Momma…" She murmured. If Inuyasha hadn't had his advanced hearing, he wouldn't have heard her. Nodding, Inuyasha kept walking, watching the few villagers that were up after the sun as they went along with their nighrfall chores. A wolf whistle pierced the air, along with a hoot of congratulations. Ducking her head, Kagome tried to hide the blush that rose along her cheeks, down her neck and up to her hairline…

Sometimes the villagers could be a little too intuitive… A girl giggled, pausing in carrying the water from the village well to her family's hut to give Kagome a knowing look. A young man, recently married himself, Kagome recalled, cheered after Inuyasha as the hanyou hunched his shoulders around Kagome.

Kagome was able to forget her own embarrassment, seeing Inuyasha's reaction to the positive energy of the villagers. "They could be cheering us on for defeating Naraku, they know about that by now, don't they." She was able to suggest innocently enough, though she knew that wasn't what they were cheering the couple on about.

"Yeah, sure." Leaping, Inuyasha landed a meter from Kaede's hut and put Kagome down, ducking in quietly. Shrugging with a small smile, Kagome followed quickly after, kneeling down on her sleeping bag next to a lump that she assumed was Shippou. Coming from the darkened corner next to the door, Inuyasha sat next to Kagome and pulled her into his lap, leaning against the hut wall. Closing their eyes, they would get at least a few hours rest before the rest of the village woke up and the rumor mill would swing into full-force. Hopefully they would be gone by then, on their way to Mushi's temple.

* * *

See, I'm not dead. The first part of the chapter my friend Raeshe (If you like Knight Hunters/ Weiß Kruez, she has a few fanfics). If you are 18+ (and/or old enough mentally), you can see the 'lost chapter' lemon at the link on my profile.

Dark

Edit: I fixed some time-related words... they came back around... 11 or so, not 5 in the morning. Oops.


	44. Honeymoon in Paradise

Chapter 44: Honeymoon in Paradise

Disclaimer: I own… Umm… Souta's father… Kagome's father… and some of the random people/demons I've submitted into this story that you don't recognize as belonging in the Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha universes.

I got a review the other day… And I just want to say that I absolutely _love_ the person that wants Souta's father hit by a truck… would you mind if he's mauled my powerful demons instead?

* * *

Last time: "Yeah, sure." Leaping, Inuyasha landed a meter from Kaede's hut and put Kagome down, ducking in quietly. Shrugging with a small smile, Kagome followed quickly after, kneeling down on her sleeping bag next to a lump that she assumed was Shippou. Coming from the darkened corner next to the door, Inuyasha sat next to Kagome and pulled her into his lap, leaning against the hut wall. Closing their eyes, they would get at least a few hours rest before the rest of the village woke up and the rumor mill would swing into full-force. Hopefully they would be gone by then, on their way to Mushin's temple.

This time: Kagome woke up to rustling and the clink of various objects hitting wood softly. "Hmm, wha?" looking up from where she lay in her sleeping bag, she saw Inuyasha pulling out things from her backpack and setting them on the floor. "Inuyasha? What are you looking for?" he didn't respond, but continued to pull things out of her bag, look at them briefly, and put it on the floor next to her other stuff. "If you're looking for ramen, it's in the plastic sack in the side… but it's too early for ramen."

Not looking up from his task, Inuyasha shook his head. "Not lookin' for ramen." Shifting to her stomach and propping up to her elbows, Kagome stroked Shippou's silver head absently. Funny, she didn't remember getting in her sleeping bag. The kit clung to her shirt, mumbling in his sleep as he was prone to do sometimes.

"Then what are you doing?" scrutinizing a T-shirt, Inuyasha tossed it to the side, with most of the contents of her bag.

"Taking out stuff we don't need." Giving him a questioning look, Kagome looked at the pile, seeing her textbooks, magazines, her small MP3 player, most of her pots and pans, most of her beauty supply and snacks, and, surprisingly, the grocery bag full of ramen. The bag was placed almost reverently in the back, away from the rest of her stuff. As if sensing her unasked question, Inuyasha shrugged, "your stuff'll slow you down."

"No ramen?" Kagome couldn't help but smile, hidden by a yawn, as Inuyasha looked at the ramen bag and bit off a small whimper. "I don't mind, we can take a few." Grabbing a few packets, Inuyasha put them and the smallest pot in a second pile of 'necessary' items. Grabbing her 'bathroom' supply bag, Inuyasha held it out behind him in her general direction.

"You're up; you might as well get ready." Crawling out of the bag after detangling Shippou's paw from her shirt, Kagome did some morning stretches before taking her bag from Inuyasha's hand, scraping her claws against his palm gently. Ignoring his shudder, Kagome turned toward the mat-covered door and yawned.

"What time is it anyway?" She asked, seeing the indigo hue of pre-dawn light seeping around the mat.

"Half an hour before dawn, we leave then." nodding, Kagome brushed a hand through her hair and pulled out a twig, grimacing.

"I'll be right back then." Pushing the mat aside, Kagome walked to the stream that ran not far from the village. Kneeling at the edge of the stream, Kagome waved her hand absently, putting up a weak 'first alert' barrier as she yawned again. Shaking her head to clear the last of the sleep, she took out a small hand towel and slipped out of her top, tossing it off to the side and away from the stream to keep it dry. After checking that her binding hadn't slipped since last night, she dipped her towel and scrubbed her face, neck, chest and arms. Next she proceeded to brush her teeth then hair, dipping her brush into the water after every few strokes to keep her hair from frizzing. Grimacing as she hit a knot, she worked it loose with her fingers, picking out another small twig. How Inuyasha had perfect hair without brushing it was a miracle she intended to find out. And soon.

Bells went off in her mind, startling her to the presence of someone near. "Mommy…?" Shippou stood at the top of the bank, rubbing his eye. He'd woken up and followed Kagome's scent to the river. Gesturing at Shippou, the kit made his way down beside Kagome, where she gently scrubbed his face before handing him his bubblegum toothpaste and dinosaur toothbrush. Sitting back, she watched her boy go through his morning routine while she finished her hair, braiding it and tying it with a ribbon, letting it fall over her shoulder. Shrugging back into her top, Kagome clipped a small hidden pin together, holding her top shut 'just in case.' Finishing up, Shippou handed his toothbrush back to Kagome for her to put away in the travel case. "… You smell different."

Startled, Kagome took a steadying breath and tried to give the boy a smile, "D-different? What do you mean, Shippou?" shrugging, Shippou hugged Kagome and put his nose in the junction of her shoulder and neck and sniffed.

"Just, different. Inu-papa too." Shippou looked up and gave an innocent smile, "but he always smells weird, huh?"

"Shippou!" laughing, Shippou rested his head back onto Kagome's shoulder and closed his eyes, sighing in content. Putting away the last of her morning supplies, Kagome hooked her hand under Shippou's legs and stood up, picking up the small bag as well.

Entering the hut, Kagome saw that Kaede had woken up and was stirring breakfast while Inuyasha had just closed Kagome's backpack, putting it by the door to wait for Kagome and Shippou to come back. Taking the bathroom bag from Kagome, Inuyasha put it in the bag, closing it again before Kagome could look inside. "Ready to go?" he asked, hitching the bag onto his shoulder.

"What about breakfast?" Kagome asked, her brow knitting in confusion, seeing her sleeping bag rolled up and put by the 'stay' pile of supplies, along with about 90 percent of the contents of her bag, including emergency clothes and 'ninja' food piled neatly in the back corner. Inuyasha studied Kagome's face intently, before putting down the bag and nodding.

"Hurry up. We don't want that pervert to have to wait _that_ long." Choking on a mouthful of rice gruel, Kagome swallowed hard, brushing off Shippou's pats on her back.

"Kagome-chan, how was your _conversation_ with Inuyasha last night?" Kaede spoke up innocently enough, spooning up her own bowl, "I trust it was successful." Kagome turned red and put down her bowl, giving up on trying to eat.

"We-we reached an… agreement." Kagome answered quietly, looking at her hands knotted in her lap, hiding the blush with her hair. Kaede looked up just as Inuyasha turned to inspect a bauble on Kagome's bag, hiding his own blush. Smiling serenely, Kaede ate her own gruel.

"Aye, to be young again… Ye be having no more arguments like that until ye two are married. Ye may be demon, but ye are human also, Inuyasha, Kagome." She looked at either hanyou in turn, waiting until she got a nod of consent. "Kagome-chan, ye better not waste my food, ye hear." She gave the gentle reprimand and watched Kagome pick up her bowl again before giving Shippou a second helping in his smaller bowl with a Totoro painted on the side. ("My Neighbor Totoro" belongs to Ghibli… it's like the Japanese version of 'Mickey Mouse', he's that popular) Finishing up their breakfast, Kagome rinsed out the bowls and followed Inuyasha outside, carrying Shippou.

Once they reached the edge of the village, Inuyasha leapt into the trees, dashing ahead of Kagome. Biting off a surprised squawk, Kagome jumped after Inuyasha, less sure about taking to the trees than Inuyasha was, but following his trail closely. Flicking an ear back, Inuyasha kept track of Kagome, slowing down enough for her to catch up. "What was that for?!" Kagome yelled, coming up to jump behind Inuyasha. He didn't respond, but just kept moving on a path only he could see.

She shifted Shippou so that he was better settled on her back, centering his weight so that he wouldn't knock her off balance. "Inuyasha?!" Growling in frustration, she noticed that Inuyasha had sped up slightly, putting distance between them that she had to hurry to catch up again. His ears were perked, one flicking back to Kagome occasionally, judging her distance. Every time that she caught up to his speed, he moderated his to be slightly ahead, checking how fast Kagome could run. Wearing Kagome's lightened backpack, Inuyasha was carrying about the same weight as Shippou, making their little race slightly more even, not that the weight really mattered.

"Kagome!"

"Kagome-nee!" Inuyasha cringed and landed on a branch, looking down on the forest floor where a trio of wolves ran up to them.

"Hey guys! Kouga-kun!" Kagome landed beside them with a smile and waved. Caught unaware, she was wedged into a double hug by Ginta and Hakkaku, happy to see their honorary sister after so long.

"Oi! Get off her!" Kouga barked at his subordinates, hands on his hips and glaring. They pulled away quickly, nearly jumping in their hurry. Kagome slumped down from her surprise hug, only for Kouga to hug her also, long enough to get a good whiff of her scent.

"No, you get off her." Inuyasha growled, Tetsusaiga drawn and pointed at the wolf. Kouga backed off with a grin and crossed his arms, jutting his hips to one side in an arrogant manner. Growling, Inuyasha put away Tetsusaiga and wrapped his arms around Kagome's waist possessively, trapping Shippou onto Kagome's back.

Moving onto her shoulder, Shippou gave a theatrical gasp and tried to push Inuyasha away with his small hand. Kouga saw Shippou's silver hair and dog-like ears and smirked. "You move quick, eh, Mu—Han—" Kouga grimaced trying to come with an insult that wouldn't invite Kagome to kick him for insulting her as well (she was in range of hurting his delicate instrument easily) "… In—Boy!" he smirked internally at his clever taunt. "First you adopt the boy, and now mating with Kagome." Shaking his head with a smirk, he leaned into Kagome's face, "Mothers are honored in our packs. If he ever does you wrong, you have sanctuary in my pack." Gesturing vaguely towards Kagome, Kouga turned to Inuyasha, his smile turning into a serious look. "Don't let her get hurt, okay boy?" Turning to leave, Kouga waved and started to sprint off.

Chastising herself, Kagome stepped out of Inuyasha's arms for a moment. "Wait!" seeing the wolves stop and turn curiously, Kagome leapt closer. "I thought you might want to know, Miroku and Sango are getting married in a few days at Mushin's temple."

Nodding, Kouga smirked. "About time. Those two were almost as bad as you two were. We'll see if we can make it. Ayame's _delicate_ right now, but she'll probably want to come, though I don't want her to move," he muttered to himself. "See ya later, Kagome!" sneaking in a small hug, Kouga ran off before Inuyasha even had the chance to pull Tetsusaiga out again. Ginta and Hakkaku hugged her also, chasing after their leader.

"Bye Kagome-nee!"

"If you ever need a babysitter, I'm really good with pups Kagome-nee!" Kagome nodded and waved after the three boys, walking back to Inuyasha.

Huffing in annoyance, Inuyasha pulled his hands out of his sleeves and gave Kagome a withering look. "Can we go now?" Nodding with a small smile, Kagome leapt off into the trees, going as fast as she was comfortable. Quickly catching up, Inuyasha took the lead and pointed off slightly to the left before jumping that direction. Nodding, Kagome followed, using the same branch most times to launch off from.

"Shippou, you're being awfully quiet." The kit didn't respond, but kept his nose buried in Kagome's shoulder, his brows furrowed in confusion. "Shippou? Is everything okay?" chancing a look over her shoulder to the kit, she saw the look of concentration on his face.

Shaking his head slightly, Shippou looked up into Kagome's face. "It's nothing Momma; I just thought I smelled something." Seeing that she wouldn't get anything else from the kit, Kagome nodded and turned forward, leaping to catch up with Inuyasha. In truth, he didn't smell something, more like someone. He wasn't stupid, there were times when his Mother and Father had 'conversations' and would leave him in the den. And then Mother and Father would come back smelling like each other… like when Inuyasha and Momma came back last night. They also smelled like water, so they must have bathed also. He remembered, when Mother and Father came back, they would all go to the hot spring and have bath time together. It was fun, but that was a long time ago, before… before…

Sniffing, Shippou turned away from the concerned look that Kagome shot toward him, turning into her hair to hide his face. The scent was stronger here, where the heat trapped by her hair made the scent more concentrated. Kagome smelled like Inuyasha, but more than that. Something, something was off with the scent, more than one scent rubbing onto another, but more like a third scent, or another layer to the scents… Or he could just be thinking too hard. They were both hanyou, so that must have affected their scents or something like that. It was still Kagome, still Momma, and nothing would change that, not even strange scents.

Most of the trek through the woods was in silence, only stopping for a few moments when Kagome refused to move any longer. They split a water bottle and continued on. He even refused the offer of ramen for lunch, saying that it would take too long to deal with the fire. Inuyasha wanted to get to a specific spot by nightfall, but he wouldn't say where they were going before heading to Mushin's temple.

No matter when Kagome tried to ask him where they were going, all he would say is that she would see when they got there. Glowering at his back, Kagome fell into silence, following the older hanyou. Shippou had fallen asleep soon after their break out of sheer boredom, so Kagome settled for studying the surrounding forest, noticing that almost all of the trees that they passed seemed like god-trees, they were that big. She was certain that they hadn't passed though these forests before. She would have remembered the feeling of being like an ant among these trees. Thinking about it, that was probably why. This was a forest of giants, a place where most humans in this time wouldn't dare to go. She had gone into Tokyo once or twice a long time ago, and even these trees would have been dwarfed by the size of the skyscrapers. Still, these were amazing trees, with their sprawling braches, sometimes as thick around as the tree trunks that she was more used to. When she landed on one, she didn't feel the impact of a bending branch whatsoever. It was like landing on concrete, it was that solid.

"Inu—"

"we're here." Inuyasha commented, letting himself fall to the lower branches onto the ground.

Lighting down right next to him, Kagome looked around in confusion, seeing nothing particularly special about the area except for _really big_ trees. "We're _where_, exactly, Inuyasha?"

Smirking, Inuyasha gestured around. "Can't you smell it, Kagome."

"No… oh!" sniffing around, Kagome noticed that not even the faintest trace of human crossed the area, and not another demon of significant power had crossed in some time either. On the breeze, the faint scent of salt whiffed though, reminding Kagome of the ocean that surrounded her homeland, not the muggy mist that she had come to associate with the fog that surrounded her on Avalon for the past year or so.

Walking over to the cliff that hedged them on one side, Inuyasha pulled over a curtain of hanging vines, revealing a cave that could have been easily ten feet across and wide. Allowing Kagome to go in first, Inuyasha took her hand and led her to the back of the cave, which turned into a gently sloping tunnel that continued to darken as the salt in the air increased. They turned a bend and the tunnel lightened to the exit. Once her eyes adjusted to the brightness of daylight out of the trees, Kagome gasped.

They stood at the top of a pathway onto a beach, rimmed on three sides by sheer cliff face and the fourth by the ocean beyond. It seemed as if a giant had just scooped out an entire section of the smooth cliff and made the secret beach where no ship could navigate between the two cliff faces to get into the bay. The water between the cliffs was smooth, like no wind would dare disturb the peace felt in this area.

Tugging at Kagome's sleeve briefly, Inuyasha walked down the path, though he could have easily jumped the 50 or so feet down to the white sand. He was halfway down on the first switchback when he looked up at Kagome, who had yet to move. "Are you coming or not?"

"Ah, coming!" startled out of her trance, Kagome jogged down the path, jumping down to the lower half of the switchback ten feet before the turn. Catching up to Inuyasha, Kagome caught his hand and smiled, pressing her cheek into his arm.

"I'm glad you like." Getting to the bottom of the path, Inuyasha led Kagome, still carrying a sleeping Shippou, to a niche at the back of the beach and dropped her backpack into the sand. Grabbing out a blanket, Inuyasha spread it out on a smooth patch of sand and sat down. "It'll be a few hours, so you might as well get comfortable." Propping his arms on his bent knees, he stared off past the bay entrance to the sky beyond.

"A few hours until what?" Kagome asked prying Shippou's tiny claws from her shirt and setting him down on the blanket between where Inuyasha sat and where Kagome was kneeling.

"You'll see." Inuyasha smirked, not taking his eyes off of the afternoon sky. "…You can go swimming if you want…" Blushing, he didn't look away from where he had been staring and thinking. Looking up from gathering driftwood, Kagome gave him a curious look, blushing when she saw his blush.

Dropping the pile of driftwood by the blanket, Kagome reached for her backpack, only for Inuyasha to pull it out of her reach. "You did pack my swimsuit, didn't you?" Nodding, his blushed deepened when he pulled out the forest green stringy number and held it out to her. Looking around, Kagome realized that the only semblance of privacy on the beach was on the other side of a small outcropping of rocks. Trotting over, Kagome gave Inuyasha a warning look. "And no peeking!"

"Keh!" crossing his arms in defiance, he stared at where Kagome was standing by the rocks before turning to stare at something on the other side of the beach. "It's not like I haven't seen your body before."

"Yeah, but…" Kagome started strong, but couldn't find a reasonable argument as she quickly shed her hakama and panties for her bikini bottom and her binding for a top that she felt more comfortable in when she was modeling it for her girlfriends in the store. Holding her shirt shut tightly, Kagome blushed and placed her folded clothing gently at the back of the towel.

"You don't plan to swim in your shirt, do you?" Inuyasha called, turning to see Kagome standing unsure with her white undershirt held tightly shut by her fist.

"N-no, I don't!" Shedding her shirt and tossing it haphazardly onto her other clothes, Kagome sprinted for the water, not even really testing the temperature before launching into the clear water. After a few feet, she found that the beach sloped down at a steeper angle until it was decently deep enough to relax without having to worry about scraping a hand or foot on a rock unexpectedly. Diving down, Kagome relaxed and let her body bob back to the surface and start floating. The small ripples coming in from the mouth of the bay relaxed her, rocking her from side to side gently. The water relaxed her enough so that she nearly forgot her embarrassment at the skimpy thing that modern girls called a swimsuit.

"Yeah!" SPLASH! She was so relaxed that she nearly didn't notice when Shippou was thrown out into the bay by Inuyasha. The kit landed a few feet away, the wave from his landing washing over Kagome. She was startled enough that she lost her concentration and sunk a few feet before coming sputtering to the surface again. Drawing away the water from her eyes, Kagome leveled the offending party with a glare while he grinned and laughed.

"That wasn't funny you guys!" she yelled over to Inuyasha, splashing Shippou.

"We thought it was," Inuyasha stood, grinning at the shoreline, "You've been out there long enough anyway. Hurry up or you'll miss it!" Giving Shippou a curious look, the kit just shrugged and continued to play in the water, not really caring about what Inuyasha was talking about.

"Coming," rolling her eyes, Kagome dove under the water and swam most of the way to shore before popping up for air. Reaching shore, Kagome grinned and shook, spraying Inuyasha with the water from her hair. Standing up, she saw her successful payback, as Inuyasha held up his robe sleeves, now spotted with water and a look of mild shock on his face. "What?" she asked innocently, swinging her hips while walking back to the blanket, only to be tackled by Inuyasha, pinning her to the sand with a playful growl.

"What was that for, wench?" she only looked at him innocently, her eyes flicking to his mouth to his eyes and back.

"What was what for?" grinning, Kagome nipped Inuyasha on the nose, surprising the hanyou enough to allow her escape.

"_That_" Inuyasha growled, gesturing toward the water with his hand over his nose, muzzling his voice.

"_What_?" Kagome grinned, staring at Inuyasha at eye level, hands and knees dug into the sand.

"Tha—" Inuyasha turned to gesture and Kagome pounced, knocking Inuyasha off balance and into the sand. The wrestled until Kagome looked up, noticing that the san had turned red.

"What…?" Inuyasha pinned Kagome, pulling her up into his lap, facing the entrance of the small bay. The sun had hit the top of the cliffs on either side, casting the bay into deep shadow while the beach and water reflected the colors of the sunset. "It's beautiful." Nuzzling her neck, Inuyasha hummed in agreement, watching her eyes as they sparkled in wonder.

"I was thinking," Inuyasha turned to watch the sunset also, feeling one of Kagome's ears flick in her direction. "That girl we met, Marina I think her name was, suggested this beach and the surrounding forest. I think, if you like the idea, we could set up a sort of hanyou sanctuary here. Most demons don't bother coming in this area, and humans are afraid of the forest. You smelled the area, it's nearly abandoned. There's plenty of space and food is easy to find in this area year-round. I mean…" Kagome put her finger to his lips and smiled sweetly.

"I was about to suggest the same thing, Inuyasha. It's beautiful here; and safe." Kagome watched the sun until it had dipped past the horizon, lighting the sky in its last display of color for the day. Turning to Inuyasha, she snuggled into his chest and looked at her fist clutching his haori. "Maybe that's what we should do next. I'm sure that there are hanyou out there that would all but jump at the idea… and we can still travel." Nodding, Inuyasha stood up and went to the beach blanket and set Kagome down gently. Whistling for Shippou to come in, Inuyasha started a beach fire with the driftwood that they had collected earlier. Feeling the evening breeze, Kagome crawled closer to the fledgling flame and wrapped her undershirt tighter.

Apparently when Kagome had been relaxing in the bay, the boys had caught some fish swimming in a stream that came from a small waterfall that came out of the cliff from a small underground stream. Speaking of, Shippou came bounding up the beach, still soaking wet from the water, and sat down on the blanket. A sharp look from Inuyasha and the boy quickly scooted to the sand by the fire instead. "Momma, I caught that one!" Shippou pointed to a decently sized fish that Inuyasha was wrapping in the broad leaves of some seaweed before placing it on a flat rock that was propped up on some other rocks over the fire. The fish almost immediately started to steam as it was cooked in the wet leaves. Wrapping a few more fish, Inuyasha put them by the first one and sat back to wait.

"You don't look like you went fishing, Inuyasha," Kagome commented mildly, watching the fish cook also.

"Feh, I used a spear." Looking over by the stream, there was a long stick that looked like it had been recently sharpened at one end. "Shippou jumped in and scared all the fish away afterward." The kit blushed, digging out a small towel to dry off on before shimmying out of his blue trunks and into his regular hakama, not bothering with his haori or fur vest until his hair and tail dried. Looking at the kit, Kagome smiled. He would need a new pair of trunks soon because of his growth spurt.

Leaning against Inuyasha, Kagome stared into the fire, enjoying the 'now' and 'here.' "Mmm… I thought we were going to Mushin's temple…" Kagome commented mildly, speaking what was on her mind.

"We are. Sango and the Monk won't be there for at least a week though. Think of this like a… vacation…"

"More like a Honeymoon... Honey." Kagome rolled her eyes, not believing something that corny came from her mouth.

"Yeah, a Honeymoon," Inuyasha wrapped his arm around Kagome's shoulders, cloaking her with his sleeve. "If you really want to go, we're only two days away from the temple." Shaking her head, she laid it on his shoulder.

"No, that's fine. This is…nice."

* * *

Wow, I managed to write this much and no real scene breaks… Sorry that this managed to be a chapter with nothing really happening, but next time there's going to be a wedding to look forward to!

Oh, and the beach is not mine, nor do I think it's really real. But I borrowed the scenery from '_The Heart of a Fox_' by T. Isilwath (better known in fanfiction circles as Sueric).

See ya guys later!

Dark


	45. Am I Pregnant?

Umm… sorry for the long break? I really have no excuse. I should have been working on this the week after I moved up here… I was lazy… yeah…

Disclaimer: I wouldn't be living in a trailer if I somehow managed to acquire the ownership rights to Inuyasha… and I'd have this published instead!

Chapter 45: Am I Pregnant?

Last time: "Yeah, a Honeymoon," Inuyasha wrapped his arm around Kagome's shoulders, cloaking her with his sleeve. "If you really want to go, we're only two days away from the temple." Shaking her head, she laid it on his shoulder.

"No, that's fine. This is…nice."

This Time: "Inuyasha, I'm fine! I can carry my own bag." Kagome lunged and Inuyasha jumped back, keeping the same distance they had since the fight had broken out, holding the bag above his head and away from the slightly shorter hanyou's reach. Grinning, Inuyasha shook the bag slightly, rattling the contents inside. "Just give it to me already!" jumping up like a five-year-old trying to get some candy, Kagome stuck her tongue out in concentration, waggled her butt, and jumped, only to sail over Inuyasha, who had ducked as soon as she had taken off.

"You'll have to do better than that… pup!" smirking, Inuyasha chuckled at the growl that Kagome gave, hands planted before her knees in the sand, readying another jump attempt.

"Shut up! At least let me into the bag Inuyasha!" She switched tactics to an almost pitiful whine. "Please?" Taking a breath, Kagome sat into the sand, crossed her legs and closed her eyes, willing off a headache that had plagued her since she had gotten up that morning.

"Uh… Kagome…?" Seeing that his playmate had basically stopped moving, Inuyasha crept closer, kneeling in front of the prone priestess. "Kagome?"

Shooting her hand out, Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's wrist, looking up into his eyes, "Just give me the bag already." Startled, Inuyasha fell back, releasing the bag accidently. Before he could sit up, Kagome was already rifling through it, focused on trying to find one thing… Looking up, Kagome nearly snarled, "Where's the first aid kit?"

Looking at anywhere except for the mad bitch, Inuyasha grimaced. "I left it with Kaede."

Narrowing her eyes, Kagome glared at Inuyasha, "You _what_?"

Somehow, Inuyasha managed a nonchalant shrug, "Hanyou don't get sick and I didn't plan on needing the bandages." Growling, Kagome rubbed her temple and closed her eyes tightly.

"We don't _plan_ on getting sick, we don't _plan_ to get injured, but we always pack the kit _just in case_." She hissed out, her headache seeming to come in waves. Just perfect, the one time that she didn't have any medicine.

Crawling closer, Inuyasha gave Kagome a few sniffs, trying to smell anything off with her scent. "You don't smell…sick?" Unsure since he had never smelled any disease like this before, he took a few more breaths, dissecting her scent into hers and foreign. "Lie down," he murmured, pressing on her shoulder gently.

"I'm fine Inuyasha, just a little headache," she gave a token protest, but fell back into the sand anyway, giving Inuyasha's nose better access to her body.

"Doesn't smell like _just a little headache_ to me," he copied in falsetto, tracking the foreign scent down her body. Pressing his palm on her belly slightly, he could almost feel where the scent was coming from, he could feel the energy, not what Kagome's energy felt like, but not completely different either… "You sure it's not a stomach ache? That fish that Shippou caught was a little fishy."

Kagome tried to hold back her laughter, she really did. Inuyasha continued to look at her funny as she started to turn blue from trying so hard. Giving in, she snorted and rolled onto her side, clutching her sides, laughing. "Little… fishy!"

"Yeah, I'm taking you back to Kaede. Maybe you should go to that… hospital thingy that your Jii-chan's always talking about."

"N…No, I'm better now Inuyasha." Her chuckles died off slowly and she rolled back up to sitting in front of her mate. Giving him a serious eye, Kagome managed a small smile, "I really want to see Sango-chan and Miroku's wedding. Even if I am somehow sick—it's just a headache, I swear—I wouldn't miss their wedding even if the world came to an end."

Sitting back, Inuyasha gave her a thoughtful frown, seriously contemplating either the wedding or going back to Kaede and the well. Knowing Kagome, and the general attitude of dog-hanyou (all two of them), Kagome would go no matter what he said, unless he knocked her out and somehow kept her out for the entire trip home, and then there was Shippou, who would undoubtedly be on Kagome's side. Looking back at the beach towel they stayed the night curled on, Shippou looked as if he had just woken up, rubbing his eyes and hunched forward.

"Momma…?" giving Inuyasha a look that said that she was going, with or without him, Kagome stood up and walked over to Shippou.

"Did you sleep well honey?" nodding his head, Shippou finished rubbing his eyes and looked up at Kagome.

"Yeah… Until you and papa started playing." Giving Shippou an awkward grin, she picked him up and gave him a quick hug.

"Well then, why don't we get ready for the day, wash this sand off, and head off to Mushin's temple. How's that sound?" Grinning and nodding, Shippou ran over to Inuyasha, who rolled his eyes, sent Kagome a coded look, and handed over their morning bag.

* * *

Not pushing her beyond what she wanted to do, Inuyasha kept an eye on Kagome as they sped through the forest to Mushin's temple, where they would most likely show up around the same time as Sango and the Perverted Monk. Except for a few murmured directions, travel was mostly silent. Frowning, Inuyasha watched Kagome press her finger against her temple, trying to work out the headache that had been steadily growing all morning.

"As soon as we get there, you lie down." It wasn't a request, but nearly an order. Nodding absently, Kagome sprung forward, continuing on, paying only enough attention to her surroundings to not slam into a tree. "Are you sure that you don't want me to car-"

"I'm _fine_," she snarled out, blinking away a bout of dizziness. Opening her eyes, she gasped and grabbed the branch she was supposed to land on, swinging her on top and launching off again.

"I thought you said that hanyou didn't get sick, Papa?" Shippou asked quietly, watching as Kagome continued to stumble through the air. Inuyasha had refused to let her carry the bag again that morning, and Shippou had opted to ride with Inuyasha. The kit was told by his instinct that it would be a better idea to do so, rather than ride on Kagome like he usually did. He didn't know why then, but it was clearly obvious now, with Kagome's less-than-graceful tree-hopping.

"…I thought so also, pup, but apparently I was wrong." Inuyasha murmured, hitching the bag higher on his shoulder. "At least, I thought so because I'd never gotten sick before."

Lapsing into silence, Inuyasha stayed a branch or two behind Kagome, allowing room in case she stopped or turned suddenly, "Mama!" Or fell. Shippou yelled out in shock, clutching Inuyasha with his tiny claws. Inuyasha moved almost before he realized it, catching Kagome from falling and hitting the ground. Not even stopping to let Kagome down, Inuyasha launched forward, intent on getting to the temple as soon as possible.

"Let me go Inuyasha, I can still walk," Kagome pushed on his shoulder weakly, trying to get him to let go, "I just missed the branch, it's not like I hit the ground." Sparing Kagome a dry look, Inuyasha launched back up into the trees for the straightest route. It was a good thing that the temple was only a few hours' run away if he pushed.

"Just a headache, feh." Inuyasha mumbled, adjusting his grip so that Kagome would stop slipping around like a dying fish… scratch that, bad thought, like a… a "Pup, stop squirming around, or I'll drop you to run after me." He eyed Shippou out of the corner of his eye, shrugging the kit back down from where he was trying to get a better view of Kagome.

"Inuyasha…"

"No, and I mean it. You're sick and I'm carrying you until you get better." Kagome's response was a small whine as her hand flew back to her head, covering her eyes. "Besides, we're nearly there." Without looking, it seemed as if Inuyasha had read her mind, "we're going to the shrine, not like you would have let me go back to your time anyway. The shrine's closer, and that damn drunk monk better have something to help you." Shrugging, Kagome gave in and got comfortable. It would be a while yet until she would touch ground again.

* * *

"Yes, just put her down there." Wincing, Kagome came to consciousness, feeling her back hit a futon as Inuyasha put her down gently. Her headache hadn't lessened during her short nap, but at least it seemed as if the room was darker than outside, that was good.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome murmured, tracking the sound of voices tiredly.

"Yeah, we're here. You fell asleep a while ago." Inuyasha spoke gently, kneeling beside his ill mate, "Do you want anything?"

"Some Advil would be nice?" giving Inuyasha a small smile, Kagome tried to open her eyes, but closed them tighter because of the light, though dimmed by the shut paper door.

"I'm sorry Lady Kagome, but I'm afraid that we don't have any of your medicine here, but Mushin probably has some medicine for you to use instead. What's the matter?"

"It's just a headache…" Kagome winced and sat up a little, "just a really bad headache."

Inuyasha couldn't help but disagree, pushing his mate back down onto the futon gently. "Your energy says different. It was that fish that Shippou caught."

"Hey!" Kagome winced at Shippou's indignant outburst, but the boy quickly backed down seeing Kagome's ears flatten.

"Inuyasha, the fish was fine, and this isn't helping my headache any." Kagome managed to glare at Inuyasha, braving the light and a flare of pain to do so.

"So, I should get some pain tea then…" Miroku turned to leave, looking back from the door.

"Wait a moment Miroku," Sango murmured, hand on her chin, thinking, "different energy, headache… an imbalance? Inuyasha, could I talk to Kagome for a moment… alone?" Sango growled out, giving the boys a warning look as she kneeled beside her best friend. Giving up a token protest, Inuyasha took Miroku and Shippou into the hall to leave the two women alone.

Sango watched the boys leave, and then turned to Kagome- who had rolled onto her side- curling into herself. "Hey Kagome, I'm glad that you decided to come." Sango said softly, stroking Kagome's soft ears. "Want me to try something that might help?" She suggested, fingers softly trailing to a pressure point. At Kagome's nod, Sango applied some gentle pressure for a few seconds. "Did that help at all?"

"N-no, I don't think so," Kagome murmured, looking at Sango, "what was that supposed to do?"

"That one is supposed to relieve headaches, or at least lesson them. "How about this one?" Sango pressed the point for stomachaches, like Inuyasha's suggestion.

With a groan, Kagome rolled further away from the touch, nearly rolling into a ball on the other side of the futon. "Definitely not that one," Kagome groaned out, now feeling weak nauseous waves as well.

"Hmm… Kagome, can you lie flat please, I promise that I'm trying not to hurt you." Sango tried to reassure Kagome, gentle pulling her back down by the arm and shoulder. "It's just a hunch, but may I try one last thing?" Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Kagome grabbed the sides of the futon and nodded. Sango rolled her eyes at the overreaction and pressed, ironically, on a certain point on her toe. "Did that work?" Sango asked gently, truly curious.

After a few seconds, Kagome blinked her eyes open, giving Sango a nearly-shocked expression. "What did you do?" the headache diminished, leaving only a dull roar in its place. As well as an undercurrent of nausea that she hadn't really noticed disappeared.

Sango nodded her head, as if hearing someone talking, "so that's what the imbalance was." She murmured to herself. "Kagome, when was your last moon cycle?"

"What?" Kagome sat up and gave Sango a strange look.

"Your Moon cycle. When was, ah, the last time you bled?" Sango blushed, not used to asking such a personal question. That was the job for the village Medicine Woman.

"Oh! My period! Oh…!" Kagome's hands flew up to her mouth as a blush stole up her neck to her hairline. "Bu…I…We… It was only once!" She hissed, looking horrified.

Sango took Kagome into her arms, smoothing the girl's hair down in a soothing gesture. "Its okay, Kagome-chan. There are many girls who have children by your age."

"No! It's not okay! It was only once, _once_! And I'm still in school; I can't be, be pre…" Kagome broke down into tears, sobbing into Sango's yukata, her voice cracking.

"Shh… it's okay, Kagome." Sango pulled away to give Kagome a reassuring smile (though a little unsure). "Like you said, it was only once, and your first time too, right?" Sango gave another smile at Kagome's nod, tiredly wiping a tear from her eye. "it's probably jut your body readjusting to you having a mate now."

"Yeah, probably." Kagome agreed distractedly, resting her chin on Sango's shoulder and a hand on her flat abdomen.

"Well, if you're still not sure, we can talk to Kaede when we get back home, how does that sound?" Kagome could do nothing but agree as Sango rubbed soothing circles on her back. "But for now, why don't you stay here and rest up. I bet you're still tired, eh?" Sango gave a wink and Kagome discovered a new shade of red; lying down with Sango's help. "I'll just go and get that medicine now, is that okay? See you later!" With that, Sango closed the door and turned to Inuyasha, who stood, arms crossed, across the hall from the door. "If you ever," Sango hissed to the boy, "ever hurt Kagome, you will have to find a new way to pee!" she pointed to the offending appendage to make her point. Subtily lowering his hands to a protective position, Inuyasha nodded dumbly.

"Great!" Sango chirped and clapped her hands, "now, where does Mushin keep the medicine, Houshi-sama?" She asked perkily, grabbing Miroku's hand and all but dragged him away.

Watching Sango walk Miroku down the hall, Inuyasha turned to go into Kagome's room, but hesitated. "Hey kit, why don't you go and find Hachi or something?"

Shippou looked up with knowing eyes. "Is this about Mama being preg-mmph!" Inuyasha quickly kneeled down and muffled Shippou, giving him a stern look. _So the kit understood the muffled conversation as well, things most likely weren't going to end well_. Prying Inuyasha's fingers from his mouth, Shippou stood up straight and gave Inuyasha a look beyond his years. "I remember where I had smelled it before. Grandma Kaede and I would visit pregnant women to make sure that the baby was fine before it was born." The kit kept his voice low so that only Inuyasha could hear. "But sometimes Kaede would give the woman tea and then she would bleed and the smell would go away."

Inuyasha nodded solemnly, knowing What Shippou was talking about. "Yes, I know about that."

"So Mama doesn't want a baby then?"

"I…I don't know, that's why I'm going in there."

Shippou nodded and pulled away from Inuyasha's hands that were resting on his shoulders. "Oh, Ok. So, I'll just go play with Hachi-san then." Inuyasha nodded and stood up, watching Shippou turn and leave, only turning back once.

Turning back to the door, his hand rested on the grip as he took a deep breath, attempting to steady his racked nerves, a low whine coming out instead. Ears lowered, Inuyasha quietly entered and closed the shoji behind himself. "Kagome…" he spoke, not daring to raise his voice more than a stage whisper in the darkened room, "can I come in?" Not getting an answer, he crept further in to sit next to Kagome's back. "Kagome… I'm sorry," Inuyasha whined, his hand hovering over her arm in hesitation. Not getting a response, he let his hand drop.

Almost when Inuyasha had thought that Kagome was asleep, she moved to wipe a tear away. "It's not your fault, Inuyasha," she murmured, her unfocused eyes boring into the boards of the near wall. "I should have known better," she chuckled dryly, "Momma even made sure that there were a few condoms in my bag, you know, 'just in case,' and I forgot."

"Kagome, I," Inuyasha blinked hard, swallowing, "I understand if, when we get back home, you want to get rid of… of the pup." The strangled word game out below a whisper.

"_What_?!" Kagome sat up, staring at Inuyasha, "No! No, no, no you can _not_ take away my baby!" she snarled, hand on her flat stomach. Inuyasha smiled shyly and nodded, bumping his mouth next to her ear.

"Thank you," Inuyasha whispered, breathing in her scent, a hand curling around to gently rest on her waist.

"Besides," Kagome laughed nervously and brushed her hair behind her ear, or at least here her human ear was, so it fell back into place. "I-it's too early to tell if I'm preg-ah, I could just be having a reaction to that being my first time?"

"Yeah…" Inuyasha sat up, taking his hand back, a note of doubt in his voice, "A reaction." He didn't mention that she smelled pregnant, not that if she had a reaction, it would have shown up the previous day. They sat in silence, neither wanting to talk about the subject at hand. Going any further would lead to argument, he insisting on pregnancy, she holding onto the life preserver of just being a reaction.

"So…" Kagome's eyes took in the room, looking for a new conversation, "any idea what now?"

Inuyasha shrugged, playing along, "since everyone's here, I heard that we'll do a practice, then the day after, the ceremony."

Kagome nodded, approving the simple schedule, "so nothing really to do today?"

"Not really," Inuyasha confirmed, pressing Kagome back down to the futon, "just you getting to feel better. Sango wants you to represent her family in the wedding, and me to proxy Miroku's family since Mushin's going to be the priest."

Kagome nodded, now lying down once again, "that makes sense…" giving a sly smile, she turned onto her side, "Want to stay with me until I fall asleep?" Smiling, Inuyasha stretched out beside his mate, letting her use his arm as a pillow as she snuggled into his chest. Inuyasha smiled, his chin resting between her ears and right arm looped around her waist, pulling her closer.

* * *

I know, I know, that's not really much… but I guess I'm avoiding the next chapter… 'The beginning of the end' I guess. Yeah, I just don't want to leave my baby and my most faithful reviewers: you. If you're wondering, at most there're probably about ten chapters left, but I need a little help here. The baby… heh… names, sexes, physical descriptions… I'm completely lost for those. If you can help me, I would be so thankful.

Dark Inu Fan


	46. The Fog

Chapter 46: The Fog

You know I don't own anybody except for those that you don't recognize the name from either Inuyasha or YuYu Hakusho. There, my disclaimer.

* * *

Last time: Kagome nodded, now lying down once again, "that makes sense…" giving a sly smile, she turned onto her side, "Want to stay with me until I fall asleep?" Smiling, Inuyasha stretched out beside his mate, letting her use his arm as a pillow as she snuggled into his chest. Inuyasha smiled, his chin resting between her ears and right arm looped around her waist, pulling her closer.

"…And then the representatives of the bride and groom's families step forward…" Mushin intoned, gesturing for Inuyasha and Kagome to step up behind Miroku and Sango respectively. Mushin handed the couple a saucer, filled with water for the practice, and instructed them to drink. First Inuyasha, then Kagome took three sips to drain it and handed it back.

Starting at the beginning, the two couples rehearsed the traditional wedding ceremony with Mushin, acting as priest, leading them through it. Starting from presenting the bride, to finalizing the barter, to the San-San-Kudo (three by three) ceremony, which they were finishing now.

"Now we complete by the new couple walking out, followed by the family representation, and then-"

"Wait a minute!" Kagome held her hand up, a smile on her face. "I know his isn't tradition in this time, but it's something that you two might like."

"Yes, Kagome-san, what is it?" Miroku asked, in the process of escorting Sango outside.

Kagome couldn't help but grin, "It's not like this wedding is completely traditional anyway, what with half the wedding party having demon blood…" Miroku nodded, giving Kagome the 'get on with it" gesture with a twist of his wrist. "It's a kiss to … 'seal the deal,' I guess. Right before presenting the couple, the priest tells the groom 'you may kiss the bride.' It's all very romantic." Miroku turned to Sango, the question in his eyes.

After a few moments, Sango nodded her acquiescence, "do you have any more suggestions, Kagome-chan?"

Kagome shrugged, shaking her head, "just the ring exchange, but that would be lost on everyone for at least the next three hundred years."

Sango nodded, "we agree on the, ah, kiss, but exchanging trinkets would be too much." That morning after breakfast, Sango had brought up the topic of 'modern' wedding traditions, wondering how much it would change in the next five hundred or so years. There were some things, like the demon's horns and the San-San-Kudo that stayed basically the same, but others were completely changed. Like most girls wanted a 'European-style' wedding that had nothing of the old Shinto beliefs.

"Yes, yes, that's all fine," Mushin said, exasperated (and a little cranky), "Now let's finish this already so we can get to dinner!" Dinner meant Saké, and Mushin was stone-cold sober, thanks to Miroku hiding the bottles… many, many bottles.

"Agreed," Inuyasha seconded, arms crossed and eyes heavy-lidded with boredom. "We should at least take a break and all sit down." His eyes slid over to Kagome, who shifted her weight, yet again.

"What? I'm fine Inuyasha, perfectly fine," Kagome crossed her arms, leaning against the wall casually. "Stop worrying about me."

"Uh-huh, and you spent all of yesterday afternoon lying down." Inuyasha didn't help but notice that her 'casual' lean was taking the brunt of her weight. "You aren't acting 'better' either. Sango, are you sure that Kohaku can't present you instead?"

"Well, I guess he-"

"Wha-No! Sango asked me to do this, and I will, I'm not too sick to just _not_ participate! Standing straight from the wall, Kagome gestured vaguely at Sango, swaying slightly from the sudden movement and had to be steadied by none other than her mate. "I-I'm just a little hungry, that's all. It's making me tired… er than usual."

Inuyasha gave her a skeptical look, only removing his hands from her arms after he was sure that she wouldn't fall. "Hanyou don't get tired this fast for no reason. And we could go days without food or sleep without feeling any worse."

"And hanyou don't get sick either, right?" Kagome asked, a tinge of frustration in her voice as she rubbed a spot above her left eye. Sighing, she gazed over to the others, "I guess we can stop for dinner at least, and if anything else comes up, we can deal with it after."

Agreeing to the break, they headed to the kitchens to see what the boys and tanuki managed to whip up. It was simple fare of rice and vegetables with a small portion of fish that some worshipper had brought as an offering to the local deities. Surprisingly, it was Kohaku who was most adept in the kitchen, able to put the meal together properly. Being the only human under Naraku's command had taught him many necessities that otherwise would have been left to either the experienced slayer or village woman, such as mending or cooking.

Sitting down, Shippou and Hachi served everyone at once by creating multiples and transforming into their own versions of a teahouse hostess. "Enjoy your meal," all the hostesses said at the same time, bowing and immediately transforming back to their normal selves in a puff of colorful smoke. Grinning, Kagome clapped for the display, followed by a polite smattering from the others, and gave Shippou a hug when he bounced to sit next to her, soaking in the praise.

"That was wonderful Shippou, your clones and transformation was wonderful!" Finishing her clapping, Kagome looped an arm around his shoulders and kissed the crown of his head, brushing his large ears aside.

"Yes, wonderful, and wouldn't such a celebration be perfect with some good saké!" Mushin spoke up, clapping his hands together in glee. "Miroku, my boy, why don't you go and get a bottle of the good stuff, since you're the once who hid it," he mumbled the last to himself, sending the husband-to-be off on his errand.

Taking the longest route possible to the trash area behind the temple, Miroku went to a pile of saké jugs, empty and waiting to be filled again. "Last place you'd ever look, old man, straight in plain sight." Picking through a few empty jugs, Miroku picked up a sealed one, making sure it was the 'special' saké that Mushin had requested. Quickly tying a rope to it, Miroku carried it over his shoulder back to the party, setting in down in front of his foster father.

"Here now!" Mushin broke the wax seal and popped the cork, taking a swig, "Sine we know have such fine wine, I propose a toast! Drinks first, everyone!" Sighing, Miroku stood up again from where he had just gotten comfortable next to Sango and went to get cups for everyone.

"Lady Kagome, is something the matter?" Miroku asked, looking up as he got ready to pour her portion into a wooden cup. She had her hand over her mouth and looked slightly green.

Shaking her head, Kagome tried to smile, "I've never really liked saké, but that bottle just smells rancid to me, are you sure it's okay?"

Miroku looked over at Mushin, rosy-cheeked and grinning like an idiot, having finished the small flask Miroku had left by his rice bowl. "It looks fine to me. Mushin-sama may be a drunkard, but he could taste tainted saké blindfolded."

"Smells fine to me," Inuyasha commented, taking a small sip, "your nose is off, or maybe you're not used to the smell."

Kagome shook her head in disagreement, trying to breath through her mouth to cut the smell, "it's not that, but still, no thank you for the saké, I'll just stick to my water." Nodding, Miroku went to give some to Shippou, but was cut off with a low growl, "give my son any of that poison, and you will not live to see your wedding night." Nodding and smiling apologetically at Shippou, Miroku placed the jug next to Mushin and sat down.

"Well, I'll start the toasts then!" Mushin chirped drunkenly, holding his jar aloft. "I hope that your marriage bears many fruitful nights and obedient children. Kanpai!"

"Kanpai!" everyone chorused and took a drink. Miroku went around, filling empty cups before sitting down again.

"Your Sons will be strong and your daughters wise," Kohaku cheered, "Kanpai!"

"Kanpai!" was echoed back as Inuyasha took the stage.

"Sango, I hope for yours and other's wellbeing, that your children take after you instead of the pervert. Kanpai."

"Kanpai!" Laughter followed, as Miroku blushed, filling cups.

Sitting up, Kagome closed her eyes, thinking of her own blessing while she knew that all eyes were now on her. Smiling sweetly, Kagome felt her heart warm as she looked upon the soon to be wed couple, having watched as they met (she liked to believe that she introduced the two), fell in love, and now were to be married. "I hope…" Kagome shook her head, starting over, "I never would have thought that you two would get married, especially after all the things that happened this past year and how it seemed that you would both rather have nothing to do with each other at times. But it shouldn't have surprised me that you're now getting married. What better way to solve someone's wandering ways?" Kagome grinned and Sango gave her partner a knowing look. "One thing I wish though, is that we will stay in close contact for many years to come. We are family, after all!" Kagome raised her water bottle in salute, her heart warming further, starting to give off faint pink glow. Seeing everyone staring at her, Kagome looked down at the glow as well, growing horror on her face as she tugged the Shikon out of it's hiding place.

Once free, the Shikon grew warmer to the point where Kagome dropped it… or more like she pulled her hand away. The sphere of light continued to hover, growing brighter and hotter with each passing moment. Resonating heat built in her chest, almost burning as Kagome clutched her shirt over her heart in pain, curling up. Not able to hold back any longer, Kagome screamed, the heat tearing itself out of her heart to join with the rest of the Shikon, the last piece joining its brethren. She couldn't tell how, but the jewel started to spin, rays of light reaching out and energy dripping, she had to block the light with her hand. Blinding light, tendrils of pure energy reached out and touched them all, overwhelming all of the senses past coherence.

Hitting Kagome last, it felt as if many hands were grabbing her, pulling her backwards, away from the room. It reminded her of how her entire journey had started, with Mistress Centipede's revival through the Bone Eater's Well. Her scream was joined by the others, all screaming out her name as they reached for her, unable to move fast enough. It looked like they moved through Molasses as the world went white with fog. "Inuyasha!"

* * *

When the fog cleared, Kagome found herself surrounded by stone wall on four sides with dirt floor beneath and wooden ceiling above. "Inuyasha!" She screamed, knowing she was back at the well, where it all began, ad that Inuyasha was on the other side. Jumping out of the well, Kagome immediately jumped back in, hitting the hard-packed dirt. "No, no, this isn't how it's supposed to be, Inuyasha!" After jumping out and back in, hitting dirt a second time, her knees gave out and she collapsed. Using her claws, Kagome dug, intending to dig her way back to the past. She swiped away tears that blurred her vision with torn claws, disregarding the blood that tracked across her face in doing so. "Inuyasha!" she sobbed, not feeling the pain from her mutilated hands as she sat back and curled up, sobbing into her knees, clutching her legs close to her body. "Inuyasha, no…" She started to rock, not wanting to believe what she was seeing: trapped, forever in this strange world in which she didn't belong any longer. Her mate, gone, separated from him by 500 years that might as well be eternity or death. Death would have been better instead of being separated from her mate.

"Hey, who's in there? This is a restricted building!" A voice seemed to shout, flashlight panning from one dark corner to another, illuminating nothing. The flashlight bobbed, the male whom the voice belonged going down the steps. The flashlight shown down the well, highlighting Kagome's dulled hair and the bloody furrows in front of her. "Hey, girl, are you okay?" Kagome's ear moved…

* * *

Sorry for this chapter for being so short, but I promise that the next will be longer. In fact, I just have to get it typed up already! I'll update next week sometime.

See you later, and please review! It's that button in the middle down there!

Dark Inu Fan


	47. Lost

Chapter 47: Lost

Disclaimer: I don't own, nor will I ever own, Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. (Though here's to wishing!)

Last time: "Hey, who's in there? This is a restricted building!" A voice seemed to shout, flashlight panning from one dark corner to another, illuminating nothing. The flashlight bobbed, the male whom the voice belonged going down the steps. The flashlight shown down the well, highlighting Kagome's dulled hair and the bloody furrows in front of her. "Hey, girl, are you okay?" Kagome's ear moved…

"We're here." Kashisu said, stopping the engine of his truck. Not waiting for it to settle into the shrine parking spot, Souta opened the door and hopped out, backpack over his shoulder and long-sleeve shirt on. Gauze bandages peeking out from beneath the cuffs. Souta started up the steps, his father taking only a few strides to catch up. "I'm going to speak with your mother for getting you for the holidays." There was no affection in his voice, no love or real care beyond one might have for a well-rained dog. "What would you think of that?" By words alone, he sounded like any other part-time father, wanting to see more of their children, but that was a lie and Souta knew it.

Souta absently rubbed a bandage covered by his shirt, "yes, sir, that would be… nice." He had to play his own roll as well, playing the enthusiastic son. Kashisu nodded, not expecting anything else but that answer.

Reaching the top of the stone steps, Souta took off, eager for the sanctuary of his room after the hell of Taijiya training for the past few weeks. Slamming the front door open in his usual way, Souta kicked off his dirty sneakers and called his greeting, "Taidaima, Mom, I'm home!" Startled, Gin dropped the kettle back onto the stove with a clatter, spilling the boiling water for tea.

"Souta!" she rushed into the hallway, wiping her hands on her apron. Hugging her prodigal son, she didn't immediately notice his bandages, not the man that quickly strode across the front yard.

"Gin." Kashisu nodded in greeting, hands in his dirt-encrusted jeans.

"Kashisu," Gin replied as coldly, stepping around Souta and brushing a stray hair from her face, as if she could wipe away his presence just as easily, "what are you still doing here? You dropped off Souta, what do you want now?"

"What, can't I make sure my son gets home properly?" Kashisu grinned wolfishly, "are you protecting that abomination now or something?"

Souta looked between his parents nervously, clutching his backpack with white knuckles, "Uh, Momma, I'm going to go put my bag away, ok?"

Turning to her son, Gin gave him another hug and a smile, "Take your time, Sweetie. Dinner will be at the normal time." Both parents watched Souta trudge up the stairs, waiting until his door shut to continue on. Turning back to Kashisu, Gin gave the man a glare that could frighten youkai. "So what if I am or not?" she hissed, nearly shaking with restrained rage. "Kagome is my _daughter_, and you will not touch her!"

"Is that so?" Kashisu gave Gin an indulgent smile and patted her head like a five-year-old that did something cute. "Either way, I will be taking Souta for his winter break as well. He is getting to the age where a few weeks over the summer will not be enough time to… _bond_. You know how much the boy takes after me. It would be a shame to waste such talents."

Gin looked about ready to bust a blood vessel. "Over my dead body, you, you demon!"

Kashisu laughed, shaking his head, "So says the whore that married one and created its half-breed child!" Kashisu turned, grinning back at Gin, "and I _will_ take Souta for winter break. If you resist, you will be speaking with my lawyers and then he'll be mine, permanently." Giving a jaunty wave backwards, he left back across the shrine. Biting back a scream and resisting slamming the door, Gin's eyes would have flashed demonically. Instead, she headed up the stairs and into the washroom, intending to draw Souta a bath.

Outside, Kshisu sensed a powerful magic flare on the shrine property, feeling like a mix of you-ki and holy energy. Following the energy residue, he was led to the empty well house. "Hey," he shouted, fumbling for his pocket flashlight to cut the gloom, "who's in there?" The weak beam panned from dark corner to dark corner, illuminating nothing beyond dust and long-forgotten scraps of once cared-for items. "This is a restricted building!" the powerful surge of energy subsided, ceasing to disable him from pinpointing the source.

Carefully walking down the steps, Kashisu focused on the well, where the energy seemed to be coming from. Listening carefully, he could hear soft keening, like from a wounded animal, echoing from the bottom. Looking over the edge, he lit upon a head of long, dark hair. The girl had probably snuck in and fell into the well, causing it to react with its hell-sent power. The girl was curled up, rocking slightly. "Hey, girl, are you okay?"

Startled, the girl looked up, giving Kashisu a clear view of her face. "_Demon_!" he hissed, recognizing the hanyou as his son's damned half-sister. Taking a chance glance out of the open doorway, he pulled a crumpled fuda from his back pocket and tossed it down at Kagome. Nearly instantly, she fell unconscious, victim to the power of the fuda and her own weakened will. Spotting a relatively new, but used, rope ladder, Kashisu hooked it on the lip of the well and tossed it down, barely reaching within three feet of the packed dirt below. Taking up a coil of rope, he quickly made his way down, careful not to accidently dislodge the fuda. Normally a fuda of this strength would only slow down a demon of her caliber, not knock it unconscious.

Reaching the dirt, Kashisu quickly bound Kagome's hands and ankles in a slave binding, the rope only allowing two feet of slack between hand and foot. Making sure the fuda stuck, he proceeded to climb back up with the loose end of the rope in hand. At the top, he hauled Kagome up by her wrists, not caring about how the method nearly dislocated her arms and left deep rope burns around her wrists. Up and over the rim, she fell into the dirt in a graceless heap. Chancing a glance out once again to make sure the coast was clear, Kashisu cut the extra rope and tossed it back into the corner he found it in. Roughly, he flung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes that she would have been better at, at the moment, and left the shrine grounds. Tossing her carelessly into the back of his truck, he covered her with a tarp papered in fuda and tied her down. Revving his truck, he sped away, back to the Slayer village, hidden in the forests surrounding Tokyo.

Kurama walked down the sidewalk to the shrine entrance. Stopping for a moment, he gave a white truck a curious glance as it sped off, corners of a brown tarp flapping in the wind. Dismissing the curious feeling he got from the truck, he ascended the stairs. If Inuyasha's estimations were correct, it would be some time this week that Kagome was pulled through the well for the last time. Kurama remembered everything clearly, from Mushin's ruddy cheeks from the fine Saké, to how pale Kagome seemed, though proud of his little transformation display.

She looked almost ghostly, and how quickly her health had deteriorated after the trip to the beach. Worrying his bottom lip, for the millionth time Kurama put what he knew of modern medicine to what happened back then. Kagome was obviously pregnant, but hadn't been for long at all. It would have been normal morning sickness (he had seen that enough from the village women and Sango over the years to know what it looked like), but for the strenuous exorcise that was her first day being pregnant. Kurama couldn't resist the brief swelling of self-loathing, knowing that Kagome should have stayed at Kaede's instead of trying to match Inuyasha's break-neck pace. _Though_, he thought with a sort of detached reasoning, _there was no way to know beforehand if she way carrying._

Reaching the top of the stairs, Kurama looked around, glad that it was his week to be assigned to the shrine, with Yusuke watching the Slayer's village and Hiei and Kuwabara wherever for potential back-up. Taking a seemingly casual stroll around the grounds, he kept an eye out for anything not quite normal. Meandering to the house, Kurama knocked on the door, surprised when Souta opened it. "Hello?" the boy clutched the door, wary of the redheaded stranger exuding a demonic aura, "May I help you?"

Kurama gave the boy an honest smile, sensing his hesitation. "is your sister home?"

Shaking his head no, Souta looked back into the house. "Kagome's not here right now…" He didn't mention that the energy of the well had flashed a while ago, signaling Kagome (or Inuyasha's) return, but she hadn't come in yet.

"Souta, who's at the door?" Gin asked, wiping her hands on her apron and coming to stand behind her son. "Oh, Kurama-kun! Why don't you come in?" Reaching around Souta, Gin opened the door for her grandson with a welcome smile. "Souta, weren't you just about to have your bath?"

"Yes Momma," Souta nodded reluctantly, turning to go back upstairs.

"And, if you don't mind, could you come down after so I can look at your wounds? I have some herbs that would help." Kurama spoke up with a helpful smile. Frowning self-consciously, Souta tugged the cuff of his shirt down to conceal the gauze bandages.

"Wounds?" Gin frowned, giving her son a once-over, the small bandage on his cheek the most obvious. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Would you bring down the first aid kit when you're done as well?" Nodding, Souta finally made it up to the solitude of the bath.

Staring into the mirror, Souta removed his shirt, revealing his torso crisscrossed with various wounds, old and new. They were by no means formed by abuse or neglect, but training that no child should be put through willingly, and would kill most 'normal' children anyway. _Yeah, normal_, Souta thought, unwrapping his wrists and forearms, revealing a sort of line going from his outer elbow to the back of his middle finger. This elongated red welt was an energy burn from his spirit weapon. With his arm, he could form a sort of shield, and an energy dagger from his fingertip, almost like a ten-inch nail or claw. General scrapes and bruises transected the main welt, nearly hiding it. Looking at them, Souta thought most wouldn't ask, after the simple explanation of being a boy his age that was very active outdoors and played soccer on the school team.

Turning to his torso, Souta bit down a whimper as he unwrapped a large bandage that went from his armpit to halfway down his ribcage. A fractured rib, that's what the Taijiya doctor had said, from a hard kick during a sparring session with an opponent twice his age. Needless to say, he had lost, badly. Kashisu made sure that Souta would try harder next time by sending him on a ten mile run through the forest, only using the occasional deer trail and no rest.

Hissing, Souta lowered himself into the steaming water, feeling each abrasion as it hit the bath. And to think, it wasn't enough to do training during the summer, but now he would start spending the winters there as well. There were practically no youkai left in this world anyway, so why did his father insist on making sure that Souta knew everything bout demons? Sure, there were things like the Noh Face that were scary, but most of the demons he had met were good. Inuyasha was the best! And Kagome… Souta grew solemn at the thought, his rib making him wince as he sunk further into the water. There were times that it became unbearably awkward after coming back from his summer of training, and now likely more so with Kagome actually showing her hanyou traits and time travelling.

And speaking of, there was now one down in the living room. A hanyou or… something. He didn't quite know how to describe it. The redhead felt human, but demonic as well. Like two separate entities in the same area. Taking his time washing, Souta concentrated on Kurama's energy, trying to find out just who or what the strange being was. Mother obviously knew him, showing no hesitation allowing him in. It was something in his spirit, something that felt almost familiar, like family almost. Shaking his head, Souta got out of the tub, dried off gingerly, and tried to bind his ribs once again. Knowing that it would fail after the third attempt, he gave up and finished getting dressed. If the demon was going to attempt to heal his wounds, it would be a hassle to put new bandages on. A simple Tee shirt would have to do for now.

He found the demon and his mother sitting in the parlor, a teapot and three cups between them; two filled and the third empty for when Souta came down. "Please take your shirt off and sit down next to me, please." Kurama smiled, patting the seat next to him on the couch. Souta complied with minimal reluctance, but Gin gasped, seeing the full extent of minor wounds, no doubt having a matching set on his legs as well.

Starting a physical examination, Kurama smiled softly, trying to soothe the youth's wary expression. "Hello Souta, my name is Shuichi Minamino, but most people call me by my demon co-inhabitant's name of Kurama. He, I… We manipulate plants as our specialty. Here, let me show you." Plucking a seen out of his hair roots, he let it sit on his palm before slowly feeding it his energy. Controlling the plant's growth, he fed it until it reached maturity before plucking a few of it's plump leaves. Retracting his energy, it quickly shrank back to its seed form.

"If you pluck this plant too early, the leaves are poisonous, but in its mature phase, they are a wonderful numbing and disinfectant remedy. With minor wounds, the juice also helps speed wound healing." Using his nail, the fox avatar split the top and bottom of one leaf at a time, using the gel-like juices to spread over his minor scratches that covered his arms. Blowing on the juices to dry them, goose bumps spread like wildfire, followed by a blush.

"Um…" Souta looked anywhere but Kurama, trying to ignore the tenderness that he used to re-wrap his arms.

"Hmm?" Kurama raised his eyebrow in question as he finished tying the knot on his left arm.

"No-nothing, Kurama-san." Souta stuttered, flexing his fists to make sure that the bandages weren't too tight. After the initial cold feeling as the liquid evaporated, he now felt the mild medicinal tingle as his arms grew numb to the mild pain.

"Ok, I'm going to check your torso now. Please tell me if anything hurts." Souta nodded and Kurama started prodding gently along the ribs, He had seen the way the boy carried himself, and there was something definitely not right. Prodding the fifth right rib, Souta sucked in a breath and stiffened. "Like I thought. Does it hurt?"

"N-no, I'm fine." Souta murmured, trying to het his normal breathing back.

"Uh-huh, can't tell you how many times I've heard _that_." Kurama rolled his eyes. There was no questioning this boy and Yusuke's relation. "It doesn't help you to heal, Oji-chan, saying that." Grabbing a wide Ace bandage from the sizable first-aid kit that Souta brought down, Kurama started to wrap it snugly around his torso. Luckily, Kurama only felt a small fracture and not a life-threatening break, so just putting some resistance on it would help it set. "You may know me better as Shippou, but I haven't used that name in nearly five hundred years. When I was on my own, I earned the name Yoko Kurama, so that's what I go by now." Sitting back, Kurama grew some plants, taking different parts at varying ages of maturity and setting the pieces on the low table in front of the couch.

"Obaa-chan, do you have a mortar and pestle or grinder?"

"Oh, you're so cute!" Gin hugged her first (and for now) only grandson. Sitting back, Gin shook her head, "I don't think so, but you can look into the kitchen to see if anything will work for you."

"Thank you." Kurama nodded and stood up, giving Gin a slow smile, "Grandma Gin." His smile became true as he watched Gin struggle to not hug him, yet again. In the kitchen, Kurama found a cutting board and a chef's knife. Cutting and crushing the plants, he kept a little, but set out the rest of the small pieces on a paper towel in a sunny spot for them to try. With a second teapot, he steeped the fresh plants before pouring a cup.

"Drink up; it'll help your ribs." Taking the cup, Souta winced at the bitter flavor, but didn't complain as he downed it in three gulps. "One teaspoon of the herbs per cup." Kurama explained to gin, "And one cup at breakfast and dinner. I think I gave you enough for the next few days and if there's still some pain, use a low-dose painkiller." Gin nodded, committing the instructions to memory.

"Ano… Kurama-san…?"

"Just Kurama, please, or Shippou, since you're family." Kurama responded to Souta's nervous question, "Yes, what do you want?" he asked gently.

"Why are you here? Kagome-nee's not here. She's supposed to be in Inuyasha's time, isn't she?" Gin and Kurama shared an uncertain glance, Gin wanting to hear his answer as well.

"Ah, well… That's actually why I'm here. What happened is that the Shikon activated and took Kagome." Kurama winced at his own wording, knowing there was no real way to put it softly. "Inuyasha thinks that she'll show up back here, but we don't know exactly when. Between the Shikon, the well's magic, and the five hundred years that has passed, the best we can say is between today and the next week or two… or more…" He looked out the picture window at the well house, mentally pleading to bring Kagome back. "Also, by boss wants my team to make sure nothing happens to the Shikon, so we're all taking turns checking in on the shrine. Yusuke, Kuwabara and I will most likely come to the house to say hi when we check in, but I doubt Hiei will come any closer than the Goshinboku."

"What about Inuyasha, why isn't he waiting as well?" Souta asked, leaning back on the couch as much as he could to get comfortable.

"Ah… Well… Inuyasha's embarrassed. And nervous. For us, it's been five hundred years, while it would most likely be only a few minutes for her. Inuyasha got a little more mature, finally, and I grew up." Staring at his hands, Kurama remembered how small they were to her hands, but how they now dwarfed hers. "Even for demons, or hanyou, five hundred years is a long time to per separated from you mate." Gin nodded knowingly, having been mated to a demon for her first husband.

"Wait, they finally mated?" She asked excitedly, scooting to the front of her chair, at Kurama's hesitant nod, Gin clapped her hands, "Oh, happy day, I thought those two would never do it! When?"

Kurama blushed, not at the fact that they were talking about mating (Kitsune in general have loose morals about that, and generally see no problem speaking of it), but the fact that he was speaking of his _parents_ to his _grandmother_ of all people. "Well, I guess for Kagome, it would only have been a few days…"

"Newly-mates! How exciting~!" Gin's eyes sparkled, remembering her fist few days, and then her face dropped, thinking on what did/would happen. "Oh, no, my poor baby!" Hands flew to her face as the horror of what was happening struck her. "Only a few days, and now…" The first week or so, the new-mates were supposed to be inseparable. Depending on the strength and the species of the youkai or hanyou, the mating bond could go as deep as sharing each other's very senses, to just knowing where the other was at all times. With all matings though, one's life was the other's. If one was killed, then more often than not, the other one would join them in the next life.

Not wanting to know, but having to ask anyway, Gin wiped tears off her cheeks, "And Inuyasha, how did he survive?"

Kurama looked away, grim, partially embarrassed at his own actions. "I… left after a few years, so I don't know all this firsthand, but for the first hundred years or so, he might as well been dead. Miroku and Sango took care of him as much as they could, but that was nearly pointless. He locked himself into Kaede's hut after she passed, and studied her textbooks, especially the history one. When the traders started coming, Miroku and Sango took their first trip broad. China or India, something like that." Kurama gave a small shrug. "I guess it was while they were gone that Inuyasha started to actually do something. There's a hidden beach that he found a long time ago, surrounded by a bit of old-growth forest that he claimed. Humans, never went near it, and demons mostly didn't see the point of going in, so he started the Shinseina Basho no Hanyou, or Hanyou Sanctuary." Pausing to order his thoughts, he took a sip of tea.

"You know that hanyou and mixed breed youkai tend to be prosecuted, but at the SBH, it's a way to get away from that and to be among equals. And it's a safe house for their time of weakness as well. Surprisingly, it was Sesshoumaru that helped Inuyasha start out, and when the opportunity arose, he became a sort of merchant to buy supplies that they couldn't get. It's almost ironic though, that I'm to start working for the company that Inuyasha made as soon as I graduate."

"And what, may I ask, is the company that Inuyasha-kun works at?" Gin asked, honestly curious.

Kurama grinned, his eyes lighting up with ironic humor, "He doesn't just work there, but he's the CEO. Ever heard of Sho Bikes?" Gin's hands flew to her mouth, knowing that Sho Bikes was the biggest bike chain in Asia, and the oldest. In fact, the bike that she took back to the Feudal Era was one of their designs, where Inuyasha would somehow destroy it in one way or another.

"You mean, the bikes donated to the school and shrine…?" Souta couldn't quite believe it.

"Yep, Inuyasha's way of taking care of family before he could show his face. Of course he does other things too, but bikes and the SBH are his main projects." Casually glancing around, he spotted a classic timepiece above the mantle and winced at the time. "Is your clock correct?" He asked Gin.

"Yes, last time I checked, it was. Do you have to go?"

Standing up, Kurama nodded absently, "Yeah, I promised mother I'd pick up some groceries on my way back home, and I've got homework to do as well." Sheepishly Kurama scratched the back of his head (a habit from Yusuke, most likely) and bowed. "Thank you for the tea, Gin-Obaa, and don't forget to give Souta-Oji that tea with breakfast and dinner. If Kagome does show up, please either call Yusuke or myself, and he'll most likely be the one to some by tomorrow. Bye!"

Souta watched his 'nephew' leave the shrine. Biting his lip, he debated whether to say anything about the strange aura spike from the well right before Kurama arrived, and was still debating on it when the redhead left his sight. Even if the aura spike was something, it probably wasn't something to bring up. Reaching a mental compromise, Souta snuck out and to the well while Gin was busy in the kitchen. If there was something interesting, he could just tell cousin Yusuke.

Reaching the rim, Souta peered into the darkness, seeing nothing, and feeling even less. The only thing that he could feel was an aura residue from Kagome, but his sister had been in here so much the past year or so, that it would be more surprising to feel nothing at all. Though it was a little curious of why a hint of his father's power lingered fresh, like the smoke from a used match. There wasn't any lingering traces, so the boy shook it off as still being hypersensitive from his training.

* * *

"Kurama here." The Kitsune answered his compact, barely halfway across the shrine.

"It's Yusuke. Did my cousin get back home safely? His Chichi-oya's truck just got back." Yusuke asked, keeping quiet as he continued to scan the slayer village from one of the tall trees making up the natural fence. The white truck arrived and drove into the motor pool.

"Souta? Yeah, he got home fine. I gave him some tea to help his minor abrasions and a cracked rib; otherwise he didn't sustain anything major." Though the screen, Kurama saw Yusuke's grim face, though distracted.

"And Kagome?"

"As far as I can tell she hasn't come back yet. Are you doing the shrine tomorrow?"

"Yeah, and Hiei's going to watch the village." Agreeing to meet up at Kuwabara's that night, Yusuke absently shut the compact. "What the…?" Kashisu had summoned a few of the men into the motor pool and a moment later, they carried out… something in a large crate. Funny, he hadn't seen a crate in the truck, only a brown tarp pulled taut over the bed. Tree-hopping to get a better look, he only managed to get within range to see the box put into one of a row of small storage huts. A few moments later, the men came out with the now-empty crate and went back to doing whatever they were doing before. Shrugging it off, he assumed that Kashisu had bought some supplies and carrying it from his truck in a crate was the easiest way. Yusuke shrugged, it was not his place to question the uses of crates.

* * *

Well, a new chapter, that's all I can really say for now. Dunno when the next one will come out, but I promise that I'm already working on it!

Dark Inu Fan

EDIT: Mein Gott!!! I thought I put this up last week! Well, two new chapters for New Years then!


	48. Found

Chapter 48: Found

Disclaimer: Hmm… the nostalgia of not owning this… Oh, wait, I still don't own Inuyasha, nor YuYu Hakusho.

A gift for the New Year, an extra long chapter! (This was 20+ pages handwritten, 19 pages typed, and overall way too much for one day's work.)

Last time: "Yeah, and Hiei's going to watch the village." Agreeing to meet up at Kuwabara's that night, Yusuke absently shut the compact. "What the…?" Kashisu had summoned a few of the men into the motor pool and a moment later, they carried out… something in a large crate. Funny, he hadn't seen a crate in the truck, only a brown tarp pulled taut over the bed. Tree-hopping to get a better look, he only managed to get within range to see the box put into one of a row of small storage huts. A few moments later, the men came out with the now-empty crate and went back to doing whatever they were doing before. Shrugging it off, he assumed that Kashisu had bought some supplies and carrying it from his truck in a crate was the easiest way. Yusuke shrugged, it was not his place to question the uses of crates.

This went on for the next two weeks, the shrine silent except for Souta doing morning drills before customers started arriving, and the village exhibiting no real suspicious character traits, except for one incident of a lost deer youkai.

"This isn't right," Inuyasha maintained, looking out the window as he crashed the younger boys' daily meeting, "Kagome should have been back by now." He growled, flicking a stray strand of black hair over his shoulder to join with the rest that was tied back with a black ribbon. He wore a red tee shirt with a black leather jacket and jeans.

"Calm down, Inuyasha, you know this is all we have to work with for now." Kurama tried to placate, setting his canned drink down on the coffee table.

At the clack of a can meeting glass, Yusuke's head snapped up from his concentrated look into the empty space between glass tabletop and carpeted floor. "It's not much, but I might have something," he mumbled, catching the Tantei's full attention. "It's something Souta said."

"The gaki's young, but his instincts are good, what is it?" Inuyasha asked, turning from the cityscape.

"It's more like a feeling he had, but he said that the well's… cooling, or something like that. He said that whenever Kagome went to Senjuku, the well felt hot. Not like temperature, but like it was giving off energy. Then it would flare up as she used it to time travel." Inuyasha nodded, remembering that feeling vaguely during the Traveling Year. "Souta said that it felt like there was a flare-up when he got home, but he thought it was just hyper-sensitivity from training. But now it's cooling, like when Kagome's in this time."

"If Kagome-chan's in this time, why haven't we found her then?" Kuwabara asked, coming in from the kitchen with water in one hand.

"Because we missed her." Kurama murmured, remembering the energy flash right before showing up at the shrine. "And she was taken." Kurama remembered seeing the white truck with the tarp pulled over the bed, plastered with ofuda.

Yusuke's eyes narrowed, remembering the crate, "She's been right there the whole time."

Kuwabara, on the same page, agreed, "I have some ears inside the village and there was a rumor going around that they had a demon captured and subdued, but nobody's seen it, so I can't tell you if it's true or not." Seeing his curious eyes, Kuwabara bowed to Inuyasha. "Kuwabara Kazumaru, first son of Miroku, Inuyasha-sama."

Inuyasha held up a hand, sizing up the orange-haired teen, "So the pervert finally had a boy, eh? About time, I was starting to think something was wrong… but you don't look like either of 'em, and that hair's not dyed, is it. Adopted?" Sampling the air for his scent, his brows drew together. "Nope, biologic. Where were you born?" Blushing from the sudden scrutiny, Kuwabara turned away, trying to busy himself with the contents of the coffee table, straightening some magazines and case files… and a text book or two.

"Northern Great Britain, sir. They were taking care of a Redcap infestation at the time. When I was five, I came here to say with Shizuru for school." Inuyasha nodded, knowing the role Kazumaru would play in Kagome' past.

"Yusuke couldn't hold it in anymore, "Kazuma-_ru_! Redcaps!" He doubled over, laughing, "what do they do, threaten you with bad hats?!" He didn't see the glare aimed his way.

"That's why I go by Kazuma, Yusuke, names have power." He gave Yusuke a look when he wouldn't stop laughing, "And Redcaps get their name by dipping their hats into the blood of their victims. They attack travelers in groups, doing anything from smashing the human with boulders, to smashing their heads in with their iron pikes to get to the blood. About the only way to kill one is to have the blood dripping from their cap dry up." Nobody was laughing now.

"Thought your parents were dead." Hiei finally spoke up, sitting on the sill.

"No, they just can't stay in one place for too long, it'd look suspicious, so they started traveling again when Shizuru-nee got old enough to take care of me." Sighing internally, Kuwabara hid his eyes behind a hand. In the end, it was only fair his secrets came out as well. "When I get old enough, I'm supposed to inherit the Slayer Village's Leadership, but I don't know if that's such a great idea by now. It's becoming more corrupt every year _he's_ in charge, and if I take over with the abilities I have, I could be seen as a threat."

"Too late for that!" Yusuke crowed, "Too late as soon as you volunteered to help me on that one case!" Kuwabara nodded, absently flexing his sword hand.

"Speaking of the village," there was no way for Kurama to steer his teammates back onto topic gracefully, "How are we going to find out if Kagome-chan's there, and if she is, how to get her out?"

Kuwabara shrugged, "I walk in." He commented nonchalantly. "I go in for some training, and bring up the rumor that there was a captured demon. I find her, and then we fight our way out. Like we always do." Silence followed his statement, shock written on his teammates' faces. Stunned, they were, never have seen Kuwabara outline a plan of attack. Usually that was Kurama's cup of tea. "What? I was going in next week anyway."

"Kazuma-san," Kurama was the first to wrangle in his fleeing thought process, "These humans have trained to harm, if not kill, youkai; and we are only allowed to knock them out, how will we defeat them?"

Kuwabara shrugged, "Simple. They're human, right? I'll form a mental link with everyone, and then pull a Hiei on all of them at once. They all go to la-la land, and you guys K.O. the ones that I missed or have good mental barriers."

"Kazuma-san, if you were able to make people sleep, how come you have never used this ability before? It would have helped greatly in past missions." Kurama spoke gently, with Hiei nodding in agreement, crossing his arms and acting bored.

"It's a new technique, fox, that's why." Hiei spoke up, putting in his two cents.

"Nopers," Yusuke shook his head, "it's just specialized toward human energy, and humans that have that as their main energy source."

Kuwabara picked up on the speech, "There are four energy types: reiki, holy, youki and ninki. Usually there is a blend of just two or three to make a person, and, depending on what the person focuses on, these individual energies can overpower another."

"Take Kagome-chan for example," Yusuke took his turn, "Her holy energy if strong because she had to work with that the most."

"Bad example." Kuwabara held up four fingers and wiggled them, "She has all four somehow." Thinking for a moment, Kuwabara grinned, "Keiko-chan is a better example. Before Urameshi died… the first time, Keiko only was aware of her human energy, but now she at least has a little awareness of Reiki as well. Most 'normal' humans live their daily lives only exorcising their human energy, their ninki, so their spiritual, holy and/or demon energy is practically nonexistent."

"Ok, so what does this have to do with this 'special attack' of yours?" Inuyasha was getting impatient. He may have been older and wiser, but he was still the impatient hanyou of legend.

"You attack the source of energy directly; you can do anything from making the person temporarily clumsy, knocking out their senses, temporary amnesia to instant death." Yusuke detailed, pulling Kurama into the center of the room and away from any furniture. Kuwabara moved the coffee table further away, just in case. "Stand still."

Kuwabara bowed apologetically to Kurama, forming his spirit sword. "This," holding up the orange energy for all to see, "Is pure spirit energy." Concentrating, the blade dimmed for a moment and started flickering like a bad TV signal. "Holy energy, definitely not my forté." Sweating a little, he gave the demons in the room a small smile as an uncomfortable electricity raced up their spines from the sword. After a few moments more, the sword seemed to disappear completely, except for what seemed like a heat shimmer in the form of a rapier. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to make you fall asleep for a moment, Kurama."

Yusuke, able to see the Ninki rapier, moved to catch Kurama as he fell after being stabbed… or more like Kuwabara making a general stabbing motion. Kurama's eyes slid shut and his form morphed, becoming swathed in white with a fox's ears and tail.

"Well, that was interesting." Yoko commented, sitting up from Yusuke's supporting arms. "The boy is completely unconscious, unaware of my prodding to wake him." Standing up, he looked at Inuyasha. "Nice that you're finally doing something more than hiding from your family, old man."

"Shippou, not now. We'll talk more when we get your mother back. Give Shuiichi back his body now." Inuyasha spoke gently, knowing he deserved the biting remark. With a smirk, Yoko allowed his soul to fall back into the human boy's body, to allow him to awaken in control. Though, with relinquishing control, Kurama slumped, nearly hitting the coffee table but for Inuyasha catching him by a quick lunge.

"Damn pup, be careful," he murmured, setting Kurama down on the couch gently. Falling quiet, Inuyasha stared at Kurama's face, remembering the child from so long ago. Absently, he brushed aside some bangs and gently tugged an ear tail with a small smirk. Pup wouldn't say it out loud, but he still admired his dog-hanyou father, even though the only proof was the near-identical hair style.

Kurama's breathing changed to awakening and Inuyasha moved back to where he was leaning before. A moment later, Kurama moved, his hand coming up to cover his eyes. "Mmm… ow. What happened?" He asked, meaning to Yoko, but spoke to the others instead.

"Sorry, but you're the only person here that I could use that on with… minimal damage." Kuwabara smiled apologetically and handed Kurama his soda. "With the hanyou and those with youkai blood, as well as human, the human energy would be temporarily knocked out, making the youki flood the body."

"Not fun." Yusuke murmured, remembering the Sensui incident not so long ago. Inuyasha closed his eyes and nodded, feeling a ghost tingle from where his demon markings would scar his cheeks.

"Hiei was out of the question, and I can't do that to myself… I tried that already." Kuwabara finished with a shrug.

"Ok… Well, we know that works now." Kurama spoke, head in his hand, sipping the carbonated drink. Surprisingly, the sugar was helping his energy recovery, "when do we head out?"

"You guys can go out and get ready, and I'll meet you there later." Kuwabara said, taking control since it was his plan.

"Not tonight," Inuyasha shook his head, "Shippou needs to recover, and you have been out all day. Go home and prepare for tomorrow morning." He was perhaps the most worried about Kagome, but after nearly five hundred years, another lonely night would be nothing much. The detectives were young, not yet realizing that just going in and hoping for the best wasn't the best plan. Hiei, noticing that the meeting was over, left via the open window to likely Genkai's shrine.

"I should go as well," Kurama stood up and recycled his finished bottle in the kitchen. "I'm already late for dinner."

"I'll drive you home, you still look unsteady." Inuyasha volunteered, putting a steadying arm on his son's shoulder. "Yusuke, Kuwabara, I want to talk to you two tomorrow morning before you leave." The boys nodded, Yusuke going to casually slump across the couch.

A packet landed on his lap and Yusuke picked it up. "What the…" A black and dark blue ribbon, an inch wide and a yard long was carefully folded up and taped into a packet. Looking up, Kuwabara was tying an identical ribbon across his forehead, letting the ends lay loose down his back.

"Have you been getting the dreams too?" he asked quietly, a third identical ribbon lay on a shelf.

"Yeah." Yusuke nodded quietly, staring at the intricate blue embroidery on the black backing. "You get your wings back yet?"

Kuwabara took off his large T-shirt, revealing two welt lines on either side of his spine, between his shoulder blades. "I was lucky Shizuru wasn't home. One of the dreams caused it." Putting his shirt back on, "You know, I never forgot when you three did. I knew that they would call us back eventually."

"Keiko too?" Yusuke nodded toward the third ribbon, sitting innocently on top of the waist-high shelf of the china cabinet.

"She came to me the other day, asking about flying. She also complained that she would never be able to lead a normal life." Yusuke snorted, finally unraveling his length and started wrapping it around his upper arm, underneath his white T-shirt sleeve. Stepping in, Kuwabara smoothed it out comfortably and tied the knot, letting the loose ends fall to the front.

"Normal's boring, doesn't Keiko know that already?" making sure the ribbon wasn't cutting off circulation, Yusuke nodded, "So she's going to help tomorrow, huh?"

"Yusuke," Kuwabara's eyes unfocused on the mortal plane, and into their shared dreams, turning an icy blue. "This is bigger than just Kagome. We need everyone together in this one. I think…" Kuwabara shuddered, "I think the barriers themselves are in trouble."

Yusuke nodded, standing up, "I guess we have stuff to do now, so I'll go see Keiko on my way home." Waving back, he stepped outside, "See ya," and closed the door.

* * *

Yusuke picked up the communicator, glad for an excuse to get away from the tedious boredom of watching Taijiya morning routines, "You better be on your way, Kuwabara, we've been here an hour already!"

"Good morning to you too, Urameshi." All Yusuke could see were Kuwabara's eyes shifting to the right and a grin. "I had to go get some things ready." Yusuke heard an indignant 'hey!' in the background and smirked. "We'll be there in about five minutes."

Nodding, Yusuke jumped back to the large branches they were camped out on. "We're about to start. Be ready for when Kuwabara gets here." He would have some fun, watching their expressions when an extra person showed up as well.

"The third from the right, correct?" Kurama confirmed, standing comfortably at the base of the branch, dressed in an emerald green tunic with brown pants and sash (he refused to call it copper). Fall leaves fell from a set of branches on one shoulder to the opposite hip. There were a total of fifteen or so small storage huts, lined up in two rows. The one they watched was in the row facing the training field for mid-range weaponry. At the moment, it was a group kata space, where nearly everyone was set up in even rows like a school gym class.

"Yeah, and nobody's come close to it since Souta got home." Yusuke swallowed concern and stuck to the facts, "but we only have circumstance and rumor saying she's in there."

"Rumor's good enough for me." Kuwabara came in on angel's wings and alighted as well as any bird. "And if not, we can easily get the information we need from Kashisu." Hiei and Kurama couldn't help but stare at the wings, orange that darkened to a red at the tips, like they were dipped into red ink… or blood.

Keiko touched down as well, Yusuke touching her elbow to help in case she lost her balance. "And if she is here, Inuyasha-san has a car ready by the main road." Keiko shifted self-consciously as eyes shifted to her. "What?" she had sparrow's wings, a brown matching her hair with tan flecks. Her clothes, not her usual school fare, was a black leotard with tan capris over top. She was currently barefoot.

"N-nothing Yukimura-san, I just did not expect you here." Hiei agreed with a 'hn' and continued to passively be on lookout. Surprisingly, somehow Kuwabara's bright wings and clothes hadn't drawn any attention.

"Things would have been worse off if I had found out that Kagome was kidnapped and I couldn't do anything to help," a beat, "again."

Yusuke nodded. "Keiko, do your thing." She nodded, absently rubbing the blue and black ribbon tied with a bow around her neck. Bringing a wing forward, she plucked a small feather with a wince. Holding it between her fingers, she blew on it gently.

"Kazuma-san, your cat better not eat any of my birds this time," she warned, watching Kuwabara pull Ekichi from the well-ventilated bag on his back. The calico kitten looked up at Keiko and mewed innocently.

"You brought your cat baka?" Hiei growled out, things starting to leave any and all understanding. Songbirds and various small animals started to gather around Keiko, where she petted a sparrow on her finger and nudged a chittering squirrel that had made its home under her hair at the base of her neck, wrapping around like a furry collar.

"Ekichi's not just a cat, his line's been in my family for generations, and he's a nekomata." It was then that Hiei noticed the modified Taijiya uniform. Instead of black, he had on white pants with pale orange armor, blue trim and sash, which held a bokken. His forearms had bandages with a bracer and fingerless gloves hiding a blade and its trigger.

"Ok, it's ready," Keiko said, ignoring the birds that flitted around her, even landing on her tightly-folded wings.

Yusuke nodded, turning to everybody, "Kuwabara, you go get ready to 'arrive,' but give us time to get ready. Keiko, do you have the dogs down there as well?" Keiko gave a nod, looking down at the canines that were sitting patiently by their kennels. "Good. You stay here and send in distractions. Hiei, Kurama and I will take a few birds to our spots and send them back when we're in place. When you get down there, Kuwabara, go around and say your 'hello, how are you's'. When you drop everyone at once, we come in and knock the rest out. Whoever gets to the third hut first, get Kagome and get out. Okay everyone?" They quickly agreed and spread out. Keiko sighed and sat on the branch, sending out the rest of her creatures to get as close as animals could, given being the middle of a forest.

After a few moments, a trio of birds came back, signaling that they were ready. Now all they had to wait for was Kuwabara and then the fun would begin.

* * *

Halfway down the road and well away from the village, Kuwabara alighted on the ground, letting Ekichi down and taking his bag off with some difficulty. Taking a deep breath, he willed his wings away and kneeled before the bag, taking out his shirt, armor and trench. "Ready to go boy?" the kitten mewed, sitting and watching his ward close the last frog closure around his neck on the snug-fitting shirt. His clothes were actually youkai beast hides, stained white instead of black, trimmed and sleeves of silk instead of leather. If the arm blades were ever triggered, the silk would be easier to cut and replace instead of rare leather. The lightweight armor would protect against most blades and claws, as well as deflect most low-level energy attacks.

Putting on his yakusa-style trench as a finishing touch, Kuwabara stood up and slung his bag back over one shoulder. "Let's go then, lead the way," Ekichi's mew turned into a low rumble as he stood up and a dark cloud surrounding him grew up to Kuwabara's waist. The kitten had transformed into a black saber-toothed cat that his shoulders came up to Kuwabara's thigh. Scratching behind the beast's ears absently, Kuwabara started walking. He would give them a good fifteen minutes to get in place.

Reaching the front gate, Kuwabara raised his hand in greeting up to the guy in the tower, "Hey, mind letting me in?" He asked, a touch of impatience in his voice. Ekichi curled next to Kuwabara's legs, rubbing against him possessively.

"Oh! Kazuma-sama!" the guard sweated, releasing the gate door, "I heard that you were coming next week." He climbed down, bowing to the redhead formally, afraid to upset the heir further. "May I take your bag to your room?"

Kuwabara shrugged his bag further up his shoulder, "It's fine, I'm not staying long. Oh, hey," he spoke up, as if he just thought of something, "is it true that someone caught a humanoid youkai?" Kuwabara made sure to make eye contact enough to connect a link to his ninki.

"I heard about that, sir, but I can't really say anything on whether it's true or not. Personal opinion, sir, is that it's made up. Wishful thinking."

Kuwabara nodded, feeling Yusuke's amusement up in the nearby tree. '_Yes-suh, no-suh, want me to rub your feet, suh_' the wisp of thought from Yusuke made Kuwabara frown and shake his head. "Well, I heard that rumor, too. And I want to see if it's true or not. See ya later!" he waved back, on to the next 'victim'. Over the next half hour, Kuwabara made his way around, joking with one, to helping another with a quarterstaff fighting kata, making sure to make eye contact with each one. Casually walking around, he eventually made it past the third hut.

"She's here." Kuwabara murmured, directing the thought to the others, hopefully. Nodding, Kuwabara spotted Kashisu, sparring with another of the high-ranked Taijiya, and beating him. Going over, he leaned against the corral fence that served as the sparring ring. After a few moments, Kashisu defeated the warrior spectacularly, spitting on the man as he groaned on his back, where he had been thrown. Closing his eyes for a moment, Kuwabara swallowed back the impulse to just go in and pulverize the man for unneeded humiliation. "Good fight, Kashisu-sama," Kuwabara managed to speak up, holding out a towel. "How about you an' me next round?"

Kashisu smirked, holding his towel around the back of his neck. "Young Kazumaru-sama, I was unaware that you would grace us with your royal presence this week." He gave a mocking bow, using his towel to do a graceful sweep, "I would be honored to spar you."

Nodding, Kuwabara jumped the low fence and Ekichi sat to watch patiently. "Your spar, your rules," he gestured generously to the older man.

Kashisu smirked, intending to humiliate the young Taijiya prince. "Let us make this interesting, eh, Kazumaru-sama, and use _stealth_ _weapons_!" he hadn't even finished before throwing three needles in quick succession. Stuck dodging, Kuwabara frowned. The needles were small and fast, but slower than he knew some youkai weapons to be. A tri-tipped throwing star bit into his arm, a piano wire tied to it, strong and nearly invisible.

Swallowing a hiss, Kuwabara had no choice but to activate his right arm's blade, cutting the wire and nearly Kashisu himself if he had been any slower reacting. "Oh-ho-ho," He smirked, drawing his sword already, "So Kazu-chan does have a real weapon after all." Blocking a third swipe, Kashisu aimed a kick that connected, knocking him breathless.

On the ground, Kuwabara fought for air, rolling away from a stab that sunk the sword a good four inches into the packed earth. Abandoning his sword, he grabbed a dagger strapped to his waist and went in for the kill.

Lining up a kick, Kuwabara pushed Kashisu away with both feet, giving him enough room to stand up again. Grabbing the dropped dagger, he used it to deflect another shuriken; this one had at least twenty needle-like blades, intending to pierce the skin with some toxic substance. With another kick, he sent the man into the fence, knocking off the top rough-hewn bar of wood.

Making the mistake of not pushing the advantage, Kuwabara was knocked back as Kashisu regained his balance. Using the fallen piece of wood, he intended to use it as a bludgeon and swung wildly. Sighing, Kuwabara didn't like being swung at with the improvised club. Taking his bokken, he laced it with spirit energy to reinforce the wood and slammed it against the beam and both exploded on impact. Through the debris cloud, Kuwabara jumped to put a knee in his face, and when he missed Kashisu, he used the leap to put sufficient distance between them.

"So, we're using energy attacks now, are we?" Kashisu smirked, taking out a weighted wire. The wire glowed as he began to spin the last two feet with the marble-sized lead tied on. Kuwabara formed his reiken using the remains of his bokken… and gave a show of having trouble keeping the sword's shape. "This will be finished quickly!" Throwing the sickly purple wire, it wrapped around Kuwabara and his sword, cutting into his silk-clad arms. A tug had him lurching forward. Taking advantage of this, Kuwabara slammed his invisible ninki dagger into Kashisu's heart.

The man went down, screaming in agony and tearing where he perceived to be wounded. While most of the Taijiya silently collapsed, suddenly lacking any energy, Kashisu screamed like he was on fire. While all his human energy disappeared, something else replaced it, burning his very veins. Staring at the man that wouldn't stop screaming, Kuwabara didn't remember taking what was left of his bokken to his temple.

He signaled the all clear and the demons descended, quickly knocking out those that had come out, summoned by Kashisu's hell-like screaming. Hiei reached the hut first, throwing open the sliding door to see inky blackness. Kurama, arriving next, touched it only to be thrown back by the unknown force.

"Kuwabara?" Yusuke landed next to his friend, touching his shoulder in concern. The human jumped, reflex-stabbing with his ninken. Yusuke shuddered, his demon blood burning as it asserted itself. The marks of his heritage darkening into its usual indigo, but his hair stayed in its short, slicked back 'do. Taking a few breaths to steady his non-existent heart, Yusuke grinned, "Feeling better now, buddy?"

Kuwabara looked up, unfocused, at Yusuke's face. Standing up, he steadied himself on Ekichi's head. "I feel sick man." His head swam. "Give me a few minutes to go get the antidote and I'll feel better." Ekichi dutifully led Kuwabara to another hut, where the apothecary was next door to the doctor's hut. The cat had to check Kuwabara's balance a few times before Keiko came down to take his other side. Through unfocused eyes, he somehow managed to find the antidote and took it dry. Kneeling, he let the medicine get to work and let his head stop spinning on fire.

* * *

Yusuke walked over to Kurama and Hiei, standing outside the third hut. "What, is Kagome not here?"

"No, Momma is most definitely inside." Kurama said absently, looking at the black void that started just beyond the open door.

"Oh." Yusuke murmured, going to touch the black barrier.

Kurama grabbed his wrist, "I wouldn't do that if I was you," he warned, holding up his own scorched hand. "Where is Kuwabara-san?" he asked, looking around.

"Getting his head screwed back on correctly." Yusuke supposed, getting his hand back and walking as close as he could to the Black. Raising his hands, he let them hover an inch from the barrier, concentrating. "The bastard used a poison on his practice weapons. Kuwabara's immune to most of them, but that just means he doesn't immediately die from it." Cautiously, Yusuke gently touched the barrier, but was blown back as soon as he tried to force it back, "The hell!?!?"

"Apparently the idiot will be needed again." Hiei scoffed, walking off to where he saw the humans go. Kurama nodded and followed.

"I'll be right back, Ka-chan," Yusuke murmured, hands and forehead resting on the barrier lightly in apology. The barrier seemed to react to his promise, but that could have easily been his imagination.

Walking into the apothecary, Kurama first noticed the amount of various substances that lined the shelves in neatly labeled bottles or boxes. The person in charge clearly took great pride in their responsibility. Kneeling down, Kurama was careful to stay right out of striking range. He had felt the random spike in youki and had seen Yusuke's markings; it didn't take a genius to figure out what happened. "How are you feeling, Kuwabara-san?" he asked politely, watching a shudder shake the boy's entire frame.

"Not… fun." He managed before lunging out the door with surprising speed and around the corner. The sound of retching could be heard a moment later. Yusuke, the last to enter, sighed and left, off to find some water bottles. Five minutes later, Kuwabara was reduced to dry heaving and spitting, sitting heavily against the door frame. Keiko handed Kuwabara a handkerchief to keep wiping off his mouth.

"Here. Rinse with one, then sip at the other, slowly." Yusuke set the two bottles down and sat against the other side of the door frame. "So… any idea which one he used this time?"

Kuwabara held up his shirt, the sleeve torn and bloody from his wrist blade, revealing a small stab wound. "Black vine, best guess. Blindness, disorientation, severe vomiting, seizures, death within an hour." He listed off the symptoms as Keiko used some of his rinsing water to clean it out and then wrap it with a bandage she swiped from the doc's hut. "Don't touch," Kuwabara warned, watching her, "even a hint of the stuff on your skin can kill." She nodded, careful to only let the cool linen touch the clotting blood.

"Black vine, are you sure?" Kurama asked, honestly mesmerized that Kuwabara didn't drop instantly from one of the top ten deadliest plant poisons on earth _or_ the demon realm.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I've been on the receiving end of this stuff before. Won't die from it, but I still have the symptoms in order."

"Baka's a cockroach." Hiei scoffed, hiding the slightest concern in his eyes by keeping an eye out.

"Yeah," Kuwabara smiled distantly, "love you too, Shrimp. How else would I start a camp fire without ya when I forget the matches?" It was once, _once_ that Hiei had to start the fire. It was late, cold (not that it bothered him) and had been raining all day.

Kuwabara started shivering, drawing his knees to his chest and dropping his head, he started to concentrate on his breathing. It came in short pants, but at least he could still fully expand them. As soon as it became too difficult to breathe, he would have to lie down until it passed. "Kuwabara…"

"Hmm…?" He couldn't form words easily anymore.

"Your heartbeat's erratic." Kurama kept his fingers on Kuwabara's pulse, feeling skipped beats and random valve firings. Nodding, Kuwabara stood up, and somehow made his way to the center of the room, where he lied down, an arm over his eyes and the other tapping on the floor for a pencil and paper. Quickly finding some next door, Keiko carefully put the paper down and guided his pencil-holding hand to it. _Death_, he wrote, putting it in quotes, _ten minutes. Be back soon! _With a small laugh, Kuwabara put the pen down. His heart beat slowed to the point where Kurama started to panic and start CPR.

Yusuke pulled the Kitsune back in a gentle, yet unyielding, grasp, "Chill fox, Kuwabara's fine He can't die. It just needs to work through his system first though."

"Wait, what? What do you mean 'he can't die'?" Kurama gave Yusuke an unbelieving look.

The detective shrugged, trying to think of the best way to describe it. "It's like… Kuwabara's soul and body are welded together, one and the same. Like concrete to a shoe once you step in it and let it dry. Normal living things, the soul is like in a room with a door, and sometimes a window. Dying is like opening that door and walking out. Kuwabara's room has a window, but no door. And the only way for him to die is to break that glass window." Yusuke shuddered, remembering Toguro during the Dark Tournament. "I thought cutting his heart in half would break that glass..."

"Naw, but that hurt like hell though." Kuwabara mumbled, staring up at the ceiling. "Wouldn't stop bleeding for a while, either." Trying to sit up, he winced, rubbing his sternum. "Ugh, Kurama, there's no gentler way to do compressions, is there?"

"I'm sorry, Kazuma-san, should I get you some painkillers?" Shaking his head, Kuwabara denied Kurama's offer, but took a drink from the bottle Yusuke provided.

"I'll use painkillers when I die. They don't work, anyway." Looking around, he noticed the lack of one key person, "Where's Kagome-chan? She's definitely in that hut."

"Ninki barrier." Yusuke shrugged, "You up to it yet?"

"Yeah, just let me do a systems check first." The two boys gave a pair of smirks, referencing the mecha game they played the other day they both had off. Starting with his fingers, he flexed them until they started moving with ease, then moved up to his wrist and arm. "Yes… rigor sucks." Yusuke, and, surprisingly, Keiko nodded in agreement, moving in to help with the muscles in his legs.

"Doesn't it take a day for Rigor Mortis to set in, not a few minutes?" Kurama asked, hearing the odd sound of crackling coming from Kuwabara's flexing muscles as the stiffness was worked out.

"Usually," Keiko shrugged, pushing Kuwabara's knee to bend, "but there are cases where someone has died right after vigorous exorcise. The muscle fatigue causes the muscle to go into rigor faster, and the core temperature is raised, so it makes exact time of death nearly impossible to tell." Kurama stared at the girl as if she should belong to a zoo exhibit. "What?" Keiko grunted, helping Kuwabara stand up, "having your boyfriend die tends to make you find out these things."

"Yukimura-san, this may seem like an odd question, but what are you studying for?" Kurama asked, half fearing it would be something like a mortician.

"Child psychology, why?" Kuwabara nodded and Keiko let go, allowing him to stand on his own and do a few last stretches.

"Ready to go." He said, stretching his arm across his chest to stretch the trapezoid.

"Nothing much, I was just wondering, Yukimura-san." Leading the way out, Kurama gestured to the open door, surprised when he turned around to the others, to see both Kuwabara and Yusuke shirtless and winged, standing on either side of Keiko. Kuwabara walked up and touched the barrier. Eyes closed, he tried to read it. Stepping back, he plucked a long flight feather, wincing and shuddering from the nearly-painful sensation. Holding up the two-foot feather, it started to glow. "Are you not using your jigen-tou?"

Shaking his head, Kuwabara let the hand holding the feather drop. "It's too dangerous. If I forcibly break the barrier, I could hurt Kagome-chan as well." Kuwabara lifted the feather again, pointing it at the barrier. "I'm hoping to just open a doorway so we can slip inside." He started to mutter a spell and after a few seconds the feather seemed to morph into a flame, wavering in the slight breeze. Carefully, Kuwabara placed it on the barrier, where the darkness seemed to ripple like a leaf falling on the pond. After a few seconds, the feather disappeared, sinking down into the blackness. "Okay, Urameshi, you first." Kuwabara whispered, one hand sunk into the black as if to hold the barrier open.

Yusuke nodded, "Keiko, keep watch," and stepped in. The girl nodded, kneeling and caping her wings. After a few seconds, making sure Keiko was focused on the barrier portal, Kuwabara ducked in as well.

* * *

"Gah, I forgot how cold it is here." Yusuke muttered, cloaking his black wings and shivering. Looking back, he saw a blue ball of flame, then two more, to a circle of about a dozen or so, highlighting Kuwabara's frame strangely. The flames all hovered at about Kuwabara's chest, his wings caped as well, looking like an orange cloak.

"Hey Glow Stick, found her yet?" Kuwabara asked, gesturing for his fireballs to spread around to circle both.

"Nope," Yusuke's skin seemed to glow from within, proven by the more intense light in his eyes and mouth when he spoke. "Send out your wisps and we might have some luck." Nodding, Kuwabara spread his wings, small feathers falling off and turning into more Will o' th' Wisps. With twenty or so, he sent them out into the Infinite Darkness until they looked like stars.

"Found her." The lights looked like they were a million miles away, but three steps later, they stood in front of a dark huddled figure, the gay lights bobbing around them.

"Hey, Kagome," Yusuke murmured, settling his hand on her shoulder, rubbing small circles with his thumb. "We're here to get you out."

"Let me die, Yusuke, let me be with them." She shook her head. "They're gone, all gone, I'll never see them again…" she muttered faintly, like a mantra. Her eyes remained unfocused, forehead resting on her knees, arms wrapped around her legs. "They're all gone, there's no point…"

"Kagome-chan!" Kuwabara shook her other shoulder. The contact giving him a shock, he heard voices, crying for help. "Yusuke," Kuwabara growled, pulling Kagome into his lap and focusing his energy over her heart. "Burn this off, _now_!" Kuwabara shielded her with a wing, protecting her from the sudden blast of pure light.

Yusuke bent over, hands on knees and wings limp. In panic, he used nearly all his energy and the blackness was immediately replaced with white, stars dancing in his eyes when the sight of the inside of an empty hut appeared. Kurama was the first in, gasping at seeing Kagome's skeletal form pulled into Kuwabara's lap. "Kagome-kaa…" he kneeled by the two, hesitating, wanting to touch the fragile girl, but afraid she would break.

"Kurama, tell Keiko to call Inuyasha." Kuwabara instructed softly, seeing the kitsune's reluctance.

"Ah, ri-right." Standing up, he practically ran back outside to talk to Keiko. Nodding, she stood up (slightly disoriented from the barrier's sudden release; like a popped soap bubble) and took wing, landing in the watchtower by the time Inuyasha picked up.

"Yeah, we found her… I don't know… _I don't know_…" Keiko took a deep breath, trying to stay calm for Inuyasha's sake. "No… Yusuke and Kuwabara are with her…"

Back inside, Kurama gestured to take his mother, all thoughts of useful tidbits of information, gone. Not noticing, he started to keen, the high pitch barely audible to most ears. He held the woman like a precious doll, her form so small in comparison to his. At a gentle request from his tenant Kurama relinquished control to the fox, who curled over the woman as his keening grew into whimpering, loud enough for all present to hear. "Momma…" he whispered, brushing dull bangs and drawing her attention.

"My baby," Kagome smiled sadly and touched his face, "I'm so sorry…" her hand fell to her breast and glazed eyes slid shut. But for the shallow rise and fall of her chest, she would be dead.

Kuwabara kneeled from where he was resting and placed his hand over hers on her chest, watching the flame of her life dim slowly. "Come on, Kags," he pleaded, using a nickname he hadn't used since they were eight, "don't give up on me yet." Using his own energy, Kuwabara reached to her spirit like a lifeline, not letting it sink away.

Outside, a car pulled up, sending dust and small stones flying. A door slammed and Inuyasha rushed in, stopping short at the sight of this pale mate. "Ka-Kagome," he breathed before getting a hold of himself. Fishing his phone from black slacks, he tossed it to Kuwabara. "Call your Momma, gaki, tell her that we found her. Yes, brat, they got back late and crashed at the SBH, now get going!" He snarled, seeing Kuwabara's temporarily confused look. The boy nodded, thoroughly cowed, and dialed a number he knew by heart. "Now you, pup," he said, gesturing at Yoko, "Car. Now," Nodding, Yoko stood up gently, with Yusuke's help, and lifted Kagome into his arms.

"Hello?" a tired female voice picked up on the third ring.

"Momma…" Kuwabara washed away a wave of longing, needing to talk of more important things. "We found her, and she doesn't look too good."

Sango nodded, sitting up in bed and sliding into her robe and slippers. "Okay, honey, Inuyasha wants us to set up things then, doesn't he?" Miroku rolled over and propped onto his elbow, giving his wife a questioning look. 'They found Kagome' was all she mouthed to him before he rolled out of bed as well, reaching for his pajama pants and a black tee.

"Yes," Inuyasha called over, hearing the phone clearly. "Set up Kagome's room with a heart monitor and a few saline bags. We're starting an IV as soon as we get there." Kuwabara relayed instructions, following them to the car. "And Jinenji too."

"And Jin-who?" Kuwabara asked, mid-direction.

"A healer that's a good friend." Miroku spoke up, having their end on speaker phone as they finished getting dressed.

"Ok, honey, we have to get off now if that's all, ok?" Sango said sweetly, hanging up a moment later with a negative from Inuyasha. Finished getting Yoko situated in the back seat with Kagome's head on his lap, he pressed Kuwabara into the passenger seat. Sometime during the call, he had managed to grab his trench after losing his feathers.

"I hope the rest of you can find your way, Yukimura-chan?" He asked, getting a positive bob of the head from the brunette. Nodding back, Inuyasha got in and drove off, leaving Keiko, Yusuke and Hiei surrounded by defeated demon slayers.

Taking a deep breath, she didn't even have to look at Yusuke to see his silent question. "Volunteering, Yusuke, is a wonderful way to meet new people." She gave him a superior smirk, "Try to keep up." With that, she took wing, flying low and fast over the trees. It was a long travel without going through down town Tokyo, and even then it would take at least an hour.

* * *

"So, heh, you got wings too?" Inuyasha commented lightly, staring straight ahead in mid-morning traffic, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

Pulling the trench closer, Kuwabara nodded, "Yes, sir, Keiko and I were on the same angel-squad team as Urameshi and Kags when we were younger." Inuyasha nodded absently, observing through the rearview mirror that his son had become the redhead human again.

"I remember you now; you were that runt that took care of those other kids."

"Yes, sir, Okubu, Kirishima and Sawamura are good friends," he answered, looking over at his childhood friend's mate. Inuyasha seemed completely human, with black hair tied back in a ponytail and a red band tee, but in Kuwabara's eye, he flickered as well, like Kurama sometimes did. Just at the corner of his eye, Kuwabara would see black hair turn platinum blonde, and human ears disappear, to be replaced by white triangles. All traces of attempted conversation fell silent, save for the sound of faint breathing they strained to hear over traffic and their own nervous heartbeats.

"She'll be fine," Kurama said softly, more of a prayer than any real assurance, stroking her muted hair.

Kuwabara nodded, looking introspective, "She's strong, but the children are stronger."

"Children?" Inuyasha looked shocked, nearly crashing the car with a surprised reflex. "Children…?" he repeated, daring a glance at Kuwabara's truthful face.

"After…." Kurama swallowed, placing a hand on his mother's still-flat belly. "It's still alive…" He felt life, weak, but alive. Concentrating, he felt two, "They're still alive." A feeling of elation washed over him, having not believed that even one would be alive after seeing Kagome, weak with starvation and rejection.

Remembering to breathe, Inuyasha readjusted his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, "Not for long," he growled, staving back unnecessary emotions, "if we don't save Kagome first." _We could lose all of them_, was the unspoken thought that crossed all their minds.

Out in the forested countryside again, Inuyasha took a dirt road, hidden from the casual passerby by a bend in the road and the natural foliage. Worn down by years of use, he took the car as fast as he could, wary of bumps and potholes in the way, and wincing when he hit one. Looking in the rearview mirror, he saw Kurama hold Kagome as best as he could, sheltering her from the rough terrain. After what seemed like an eternity, they arrived in front of a house, though it could be more accurately described as a feudal castle of sorts, and parked. Taking Kagome gently, he led the two boys inside, having them open the modernized front double doors. "This way," he murmured, leading them up a grand staircase in two carefully measured bounds.

"Kagome!" Sango called, the first to spot the group as they rushed toward them down the hall. Miroku and Jinenji looked up at the yell, shocked to see Kagome limp in her mate's arms.

"In here," the earth hanyou instructed, opening a door for the couple. Over the years, he had changed from his twenty foot height and horse-like face, to a more humanoid form with shocking blue eyes, but still balding, much to his chagrin, covered with a bandanna. It was mostly an illusion, but it was much more useful in this age with two worlds, to live among the human one.

Inuyasha carefully set her down on the fancy four-poster bed and was virtually pushed away by Jinenji so he could get to work. "I'm sorry about this, Kagome-san," he murmured, carefully loosening the belt on her hakama enough so that he could remove her haori. Mildly surprised at binding instead of a bra, he set the haori onto the chair by a writing table. Underneath, he saw the frame of her body, the skeleton, forming harsh angles covered with naught but flesh. Having no choice, he took the IV needle and taped it to the back of her hand, praying that those veins hadn't collapsed as badly as the ones typically used in the inner elbow. Next was the heart monitor, easier to place with just sticky pads with electrodes onto her torso. Moving down to her belly, he gently palpated it, feeling the early pregnancy, slightly further on than a human would be, given her demon blood. Sighing, Jinenji did all he could, pulling Inuyasha aside.

"Inuyasha-sama," the hanyou started softly, gently pulling the curtain aside to look out the balcony windows, "I've done all that I can until Kagome-san wakes up, but until then, you have to make a decision." Jinenji swallowed, not wanting to think that one life was more precious than another. "In the condition that she is in currently, it will be time before she will be back to full health, but with the pregnancy as well, there is a possibility of losing one or both of them."

"There's two of them, twins." Inuyasha said quietly, arms crossed and observing his territory.

"Ah, that makes it more difficult." Even more, he both loathed and needed to bring up the option. "It's still early enough in the pregnancy that it wouldn't hurt Kagome-san," Inuyasha turned an ear to the taller doctor and started growling. Jinenji gulped, "I-I would suggest terminating the pregnancy, for Kagome's sake!" he managed to squeak out before Inuyasha pounced.

"Do _what_, again?" He growled, hair white, eyes red and purple stripes appearing on his cheeks. Full demon, Inuyasha kneeled on top of the hanyou, one hand around his throat, the other poised to dismember. "You will _not_ touch my pups."

"Inuyasha!" Sango yelled, from where she was reuniting with her own son out in the hallway, "Let Jinenji-san go!"

Looking up with a growl, he stared at Sango with a crimson glare. She glared back, not intimidated in the least by his temper. "Feh," Inuyasha spat, standing up with Jinenji's throat still in his grasp. With a toss, he landed against the wall by the door, hard. "Don't touch my mate." Sitting under where he hit, all he could do was nod, rubbing his neck and wheezing. "Monk, get your ass over here." Calmed down somewhat, Inuyasha stood with clawed hands on hips, his physical presence resting at neutral hanyou, what his body was accustomed to.

Miroku pat his son's shoulder (awkward since Kuwabara was good few inches taller) and went over to talk to Inuyasha, "Yes? You want me to be the one to take care of Kagome-chan's medical needs, correct?" After a quick nod, he went over and did his own brief exam, a faint concerned touch here or there, but nothing invasive. With two fingers glowing, he examined her weaknesses, "Son, I believe this is your specialty," he observed, 'seeing' an orange string connected to her spirit, tying it to her body. Sitting up, Miroku watched the heart monitor, not wanting to look at anything else. "Given that Inuyasha is still alive after five hundred years without Kagome-chan, I would put a high chance of Kagome's surviving, provide Inuyasha," he gave the hanyou a side-glance, "stays with her and tries to strengthen their bond… the children… I will pray for their survival. It comes down to the mother's strength in the end."

Nodding, Inuyasha pulled up a simple chair beside the large bed. Taking her hand gently, Inuyasha started rubbing small circles with his thumb. "I believe it would be best to leave them alone at this point in time," Kurama said gently from his corner of the room, his arms wide to shepherd the others out. Turning back, Kurama stood opposite Inuyasha and pulled a seed from his hair. Making it sprout, he coaxed the vine to wrap around the posts and canopy. Large pale flowers and broad leaves bloomed, giving off a calming scent. "I hope this helps… Papa," he said quietly, tenderness he rarely showed in his voice, "Make Mama come back to us." Inuyasha nodded, determination in his gaze.

"I'll try," and with that, he shut the door, leaving his parents alone.

* * *

Gah, I don't know whether to cry or to sob in relief! Happy New Year everyone! I hope you like this little gift, despite horribly needing editing. I'll get to that tomorrow.

Oh, and I need baby names!!!

Dark Inu Fan

Edit: I edited it! There are no more serious faux-pas!


	49. Dreams

Ehehe… Whoops, I really did mean to get this out sooner… but it's not completely my fault. You see, I'm used to at least 10 reviews per chapter, at least 5, but, you see… I got a grand total of 7 for the past two chapters. I'm now completely depressed and my bonfire of motivation has dwindled down to a little paper match. Well, I don't own this anyway, so I guess in the end it doesn't matter, though it is nice to see somebody loving me.

Chapter 49: (didn't think I'd make it this far when I said that there were only a few chapters left…) Dreams

Last time: Nodding, Inuyasha pulled up a simple chair beside the large bed. Taking her hand gently, Inuyasha started rubbing small circles with his thumb. "I believe it would be best to leave them alone at this point in time," Kurama said gently from his corner of the room, his arms wide to shepherd the others out. Turning back, Kurama stood opposite Inuyasha and pulled a seed from his hair. Making it sprout, he coaxed the vine to wrap around the posts and canopy. Large pale flowers and broad leaves bloomed, giving off a calming scent. "I hope this helps… Papa," he said quietly, tenderness he rarely showed in his voice, "Make Mama come back to us." Inuyasha nodded, determination in his gaze.

"I'll try," and with that, he shut the door, leaving his parents alone.

This time: Downstairs, Sango couldn't help but coddle her son after watching him grow up from afar for so many years. Seeing the small scars pocking his bare torso, she demanded to know about each one in great detail, plotting death to those who dared to harm her precious first son. "Mama, I'm fine," Absently rubbing the five puncture scars around his heart, Kuwabara stepped away so that he could breathe, "And besides, you can't kill a dead man. Been gone for a while now," he commented distractedly, reading his mother's face as easily as if he'd seen her expression every day. Looking in the direction of the front door, he nodded to himself. "They're here," and to his mother, "could Yukimura-san borrow an extra shirt?" Shooting her son an 'explain later' look, she went off to find a blouse to lend out.

"That is an impressive scar," Miroku spoke up from a lounge chair, chewing on a pocky stick, "looks like your heart was nearly ripped out." Holding out the box, Kuwabara grabbed one as well and headed to the foyer.

"No, he just tried to replace mine with his hand." With that, he stepped out of the parlor and into the large entrance hall, waving over Yusuke and Keiko. After a brief look-around, Hiei took off up the stairs and down the opposite way from Kagome's room.

"What, did you think he slept in the park or something?" Keiko commented, gratefully thanking Sango for a plain tan collared shirt with pearl buttons. Quickly fastening the last one, she followed the boys back to where the others sat. They came in just as Kurama set down a tea tray with pot and cups enough for everyone.

"Just chamomile, nothing fancy except for a hint of catnip." He described, pouring cups and handing them out. "We all need to calm down after what happened earlier."

"Speaking of which," Keiko cradled the hot cup in her palms, staring at the tea's pale yellow tint, "How is Kagome?"

Silence followed her question, heaviness settling into the atmosphere like a brick wall. Exchanging glances, Sango bit her lip and ended up speaking. Squaring her shoulders, she leaned forward and gave Keiko a comforting pat on the hand. "She's fine, for now, but she could be doing better. Inuyasha's up with her now, and we're giving them some time alone. If you want, I'm sure you can visit in a little while."

"So Kagome's awake."

"No," Kuwabara put down his tea cup before he could drop it, "Kagome-chan's body is comatose, and her mind wants to die. We can just hope that she'll respond with familiar people around."

"Have you tried to bring her back yet?" Kuwabara shook his head and lifted his teacup for a sip.

"Not yet, I was waiting for you two to show up."

Yusuke snorted, walking into the sitting area, foregoing the empty couch for the floor in front of it. "Then finish your tea already and start centering! All we have is time." Giving a half-laugh, Kuwabara eyed his parents and Kurama, embarrassed, and slid to join Yusuke and Keiko on the floor, their touching knees creating a triangle of sorts between the three of them. Keeping his back remarkably straight, Kuwabara focused inward on his breathing, and when he felt steady enough, he sent tendrils of energy out. Most of them shot down, grounding him to the very earth like the roots of a great tree. Gentle, almost timid, strings connected to Keiko and Yusuke as well, drawing on their energies to supplement his own. Feeling the connections as secure as possible, he focused upward to the heavens, seeking out the energy that he knew just as well as Keiko or Yusuke's.

Upstairs, Kagome moaned in her sleep. Subconsciously resisting not one, but three minds as they attempted to gain access into hers. Startled, Inuyasha stood over Kagome, tapping her cheek and praying for her eyes to open. As abruptly as it started, she calmed, falling into silence as the trio entered her mind. Kuwabara, as the one putting forth the effort, seemed to appear solid in the grayness of Kagome's mindscape. Yusuke and Keiko mere shadows there to observe.

"I'm in," Kuwabara muttered, looking around, not realizing that his body had spoken as well. "Now to find her mind." Surrounded in fog, there was not much to do but pick a direction and wander until his time in this plane expired or he found something. Luck was on his side this time, for a half hour later, he saw a crumbling cabin, as grey as the surrounding fog, appear in the distance.

Approaching the building, Kuwabara flung the sliding doors open, happy to have found Kagome's mind. In the corner was a huddled figure in a dirty grey, ripped tunic that was once a beautiful white dress. Skeletal feet stuck out from the frayed hem and bony hands clutched at covered knees. Stringy black-hole hair covered its features. "Kagome-chan!" Kuwabara sighed in relief, holding out his hand to her. The being flinched and moved, its head turning to look up. Vengeful red eyes glared back and it opened its raw mouth.

"GET OUT!" skeletal hands turned to razor-like claws as the creature moved faster than Kuwabara could react and pushed him away, back into his own body. The force pushed him back enough to toss him and Yusuke into the couches, while Keiko hit the coffee table hard enough to crack the glass top with a surprised gasp. Yusuke was only really pushed an inch into the couch he was sitting against, while the redhead flew the furthest, into the opposite couch.

Simply breathing for a few moments, Keiko sat up gingerly, allowing Sango to check for any real injuries. There was nothing but a red welt that was quickly becoming a line bruise from hitting the edge. Sitting up with a groan, the others could see a set of claw marks drawing across Kuwabara's chest, where they started to ooze blood. Touching the fresh wounds, Kuwabara grimaced.

"I'm fine Momma." He muttered, pushing away her tissue-grasping hand gently. In a matter of moments, the wounds disappeared as if they weren't even there in the first place. Being spirit wounds, he could feel the deep gashes even with there being no physical evidence. Like a torn heart could not be seen, only felt.

"I must say, that was impressive Kazuma-kun," Miroku gave a smirk. "It took me years to maintain a spell that long, you've been training yourself."

All Kuwabara could do was nod in agreement before Yusuke cut in, stretching. "You at least dropped a marker before we got… killed, didn't ya?"

Kuwabara gave Yusuke a look, absently rubbing where he was attacked. "I'm not a complete idiot, Urameshi. I dropped the stupid marker."

"Good," Yusuke grinned, "lunch first, then we'll try again." He started to walk off.

""Yusuke, where are you going?" Kurama asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah, kitchen…?" Yusuke pointed to the door to the foyer, eyes wide and innocent.

"Kitchen." Kurama pointed to the open door behind him where, indeed, a decent-sized kitchen was seen through the open double doors.

"Oh." Somehow, Yusuke managed to scrounge up some of his remaining dignity and went into the kitchen, closing the doors slightly harder than necessary amid a smattering of chuckles.

Sitting back onto his seat on the couch, Kuwabara looked around. "So… where did the shrimp go?"

"Hiei has a room here when he desires it since, technically, he is a type of hanyou." Kurama explained gently from behind his cup.

"Yes, the sanctuary is open to anybody with even a hint of non-human blood, and those that know and understand the hanyou plight." Sango continued with a smile, leaning comfortably against the back f the chair, her knees crossed casually.

"And I just volunteer here," Keiko grinned, "I have other friends besides you guys, and one of their parents lives here sometimes." A crash came from the kitchen, followed by a few choice expletives. "Yusuke!" jumping up from her seat, Keiko rushed to the kitchen and slipped inside before the others could react. "Are you okay?" Sango and Miroku gave each other knowing grins.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm cool. Just some pots…" the door gently closed on its own with a click, cutting off the rest of the conversation.

"So, how long?" Sango asked, a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.

"Those two?" Kuwabara jabbed his thumb back towards the kitchen. "They've known each other since they were in the sandbox. And Yusuke's proposed at least twice… of what I know." He shrugged, giving an almost helpless smile. "By now, they're already practically married, though I don't know why Keiko hasn't tried to kill him already." Raising his pinky, the others laughed at the poor boy's expense.

"So, Shippou, any lucky ladies yet?" Miroku asked, causing the Kitsune to blush deeply.

"Ah… no." Kurama murmured, face hidden by his curtain of red hair. Miroku hummed and nodded. What he didn't know was that he was thinking of his time as Yoko and the years that he spent with Kuronoue, and the pain of seeing his ghost in a demon of illusions attack him. In the cave that Inuyasha had given him, on a pedestal and silk-lined box, lay the pendant that his bat had died over, and old piece of the barrier stone his mother hand once held.

"…Plenty of choices, I heard that there's a huge fan club at his school." Kuwabara smirked, earning a resigned groan from Kurama, only catching the end. He didn't want to think about those screeching banshees that dared to think they had a chance.

"And you, my son?"

"Oh boy, here we go." Kurama groaned, seeing the human's face light up like a hundred-watt light bulb. Kurama buried his head in his hands.

"Yukina's the best! She's beautiful, her cooking's wonderful…" Kurama blanked out the rest, seeing as he had heard similar speeches one too many times from the passionate psychic.

* * *

After lunch, the trio settled down for another go, but Miroku tapped for their attention first. Taking them down one wing, he opened the door to an indoor dojo, with a wall of various weapons, mats against another, and the far wall was only shoji screens leading straight to the back gardens. "You might not get as injured in here, if you feel like using it." With that, Miroku left the trio to their own devices to go help Sango, who had volunteered to do the dishes.

Waiting a minute for Miroku to leave, Yusuke went and opened the end shoji to get some circulation but still keep their privacy. "So, what was that… thing?" he asked, coming back to the center.

"It was a wrath guardian, of what I could tel." Kuwabara suggested, taking off his duster and tossing it by the door.

Keiko took off her borrowed shirt as well, folding it before she placed it by the coat. "So we'll be going in full power this time?"

"Wrath, so she did a seven-layer lock then?" it took barely any effort for three sets of wings to appear.

"At least. Who knows how many defenses Kagome put up in the past two weeks." They sat in formation, wings relaxed to overlap each others' and surround them in a feathered circle. "Ready?"

"Let's get this show on the road already!" Yusuke smirked, eyes already closed to focus on his breathing.

"Alright." And with that, they were sent back to the mental plane, this time outside the ramshackle hut. Taking a calming breath, Kuwabara cautiously opened the shoji and peered at the beast, once more rocking in the back corner.

The beast snarled, jumping to attack once more. "I thought I told you to GET OUT!" it howled, two inch claws meeting with feather engraved shield that appeared on Kuwabara's left forearm before the appendage was sliced off. He immediately retaliated by stabbing, but Wrath dodged by jumping back.

"Let us pass," Kuwabara demanded, going in for another strike that was dodged. "Feather kunai!" the etched feathers on his shield sprung to life, forcing the nearly human beast to dodge the half dozen projectiles. One that should have impaled it actually went through like a phantom.

Grasping the place the feather went through, the beast snarled and curled inward, protecting the physically uninjured arm. "You will pay for that, human." Using its god arm, Wrath rushed Kuwabara and sunk its claws into his arm, ripping a good chunk bloody.

Stepping back in shock, Kuwabara grasped his bloody arm, spiritual 'blood' seeping between his fingers. Looking up, it seemed as if Wrath was waiting for Kuwabara to make the next move. Stepping back mentally, Kuwabara closed his eyes and concentrated. Spiritual residue healed his wounds as he looked at Wrath with a rational eye. "Okay." He murmured, watching the beast's eyes dart around like a trapped animal. "Who are you angry with?" this caught the beast's attention and it snarled at him.

"What does it matter to you? I have nobody, _nobody_, and I will kill all those that seek to harm me again." Lunging again, the beast managed to nick his ankle as he leaped to the side and rolled. Kneeling, Kuwabara grimaced and wiped away the scratch.

"I don't want to hurt you, just let me pass."

"Lies!" Wrath screeched, its red eyes wild and actions uncontrolled, trying to kill the human. Taking his chance, Kuwabara tried a grapple, pinning it down with a knee in the small of its back and holding both wrists in one large hand. "Go ahead, kill me," it grinned manically into the rough hewn floorboards, "you'll just prove yourself wrong."

"If you say that you have nobody, then why am I here?" calmly, Kuwabara sat back, pinning her hands directly above her head. "If you have nobody, they why was Yusuke looking for you? They why is Inuyasha, your mate, sitting beside your body, praying for you to come back. Would 'nobody' wait five hundred years to see you being born and grow up, just to be with you again?"

"You lie." The beast spat without conviction, its claws recessing to dainty points and its wild hair calming into a more familiar mane.

"If there is nobody," Kuwabara leaned in to whisper in Wrath's severely pointed ears, pulling his trump card. "Then why does your body contain two souls that are not you?" allowing the beast up, it reflected more of Kagome's bestial nature, but was still her. Kneeling, she placed her hand on her belly and Kuwabara nodded. "Release your anger, you have at least two to live for now. Let me pass." The apparition nodded absently, fading, and Kuwabara found himself standing, surrounded by fog once again. Suddenly feeling how weak he was, he fell to his knees and woke on the physical plane, facing Yusuke and Keiko.

Slumping forward, Kuwabara caught himself with his hands, and two other sets on his shoulders. Letting out a relieved chuckle, Kuwabara smirked at his teammates. "So, who wants to go next?"

Yusuke gave a relieved grin, covered by a cocky smirk. "That didn't look too tough, I'll go next."

"_After_ a break. I don't care about you, but Kazuma-kun looks about ready to collapse." Keiko said sternly, keeping a supporting hand on the psychic's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Yusuke stood up, stretching and winced when a few vertebrae popped back into place.

"Good idea…" At that, Kuwabara collapsed back, pressing his wings so that they fully splayed, wing tips stretching nearly from one side of the practice floor to the other. After a few seconds, they retracted partially, framing the catnapping teen.

* * *

"Hey, dinner's rea~dy…" Kurama trailed off, staring at the scene before him. Kuwabara lay sprawled out on the floor, his folded coat used as a pillow. Yusuke casually sat against the opposite wall, with Keiko sleeping against his chest. "Or… I can just tell them to put yours in the refrigerator."

"Nah, give us five minutes." Yusuke waved with a smirk, jostling Keiko, who woke up with an ungraceful snort.

"Wha…?"

Kurama hid his smirk by turning away. "I'll wait for you in the dining room then." Yusuke nodded, helping Keiko stand up, ignoring her mussed hair and pressure mark on one cheek. Avoiding feathers, he walked up to Kuwabara and introduced the boy to his bare foot. Repeatedly.

"A'ight, 'm up, 'm up." Kuwabara mumbled, trying up sit up. "Ah." He winced with both elbows pinning feathers down.

"Hurry up, bird boy, dinner's ready." He looked up blearily, just noticing he was the only one currently winged. A moment later, orange and red curled up like paper in a fireplace and vanished. Yusuke hauled him up and Keiko tossed him the bag that he had dropped back at the village.

"Oh, ah, thanks." Digging out a light blue tee, he put it on without bothering to tuck it in. "Forgot about this." He plucked at the loose fabric before rushing forward to open the shoji for Keiko. "Umm… how long was I out?"

"Couple 'a hours, ya lazy bum, and I'm doing it next." Yusuke announced, earning a smack from Keiko.

"Cut him a break Yusuke, Kazuma-kun was the spirit body twice in a row, _and_ he got hurt both times."

"Yeah, yeah, I know Keiko." Yusuke gave his friend a smirk over his girlfriend's head, "and there was that poison this morning, too."

Kuwabara grimaced, "yeah, don't tell Momma about that." And with that, they decided not to speak of it until later.

* * *

Knocking on the door again, Yusuke cast Keiko a skeptical look, which she returned with a shrug, careful not to disturb the ramen bowl on her tray. Inside, Inuyasha cast the door another baleful glance, willing those on the other side to simply go away. "Whatever, Keiko," came the somewhat familiar voice of Yusuke. "Oi, Jii-chan, we're coming in whether you want us to or not!" he called through the door, raising his voice to penetrate the wood. "And we brought dinner." The young demon opened the door, followed by the human volunteer and Taijiya boy. Keiko, he remembered her name, placed her tray on the desk. On top some home made ramen with a few thin slices of beef displayed artfully, like a fan.

Inuyasha looked at the ramen, convincing himself that the tantalizing treat just wasn't worth it, especially with Kagome lying there, limp and frail, the only sign of life being the monotonous beep of the heart monitor. "Inuyasha-san, please, eat," Keiko pleaded politely, facing her 'employer,' "Ten minutes to eat won't really make a difference." He gave the human a look and she decided to switch tactics. "What would Kagome think of you starving yourself for no reason?" stroking Kagome's face with tender fingers, he kissed her cheek as if to say goodbye and stood up.

"Don't worry doggie, we'll be right here if something happens." Yusuke smirked, stealing Inuyasha's chair and sat down, taking his cousin's exposed hand. Keiko sat on the bed opposite Yusuke and started stroking her hair away from closed eyes, while Kuwabara took point, sitting by her feet on an empty foot locker. Still yet unsure about leaving his mate's side, he sat at the desk and ate, not tasting the professional quality of the from-scratch noodles and broth. At a silent gesture, the three teens closed their eyes, able to get into Kagome's mind easier with contact, and the hanyou was none the wiser.

"Now, if I was the second part of a seal, which way would I be?" Yusuke muttered, finger pointing in a random direction. "Ah, right!" Turning in a comical flailing circle, he marched not-left, seeming to be dragged by the very finger he had used to point.

The second hut wasn't actually a building at all, but more like a cluster of trees rising out of the mist that he would have easily passed without a second thought, but for the fireball that was aimed at certain… parts that he would miss horribly. "_You_~!" a voice yelled with such venom the very leaves shook, "It's all _your_ fault, you miserable piece of scum!" standing up from the near dodge, Yusuke brushed off his pants, spotting the burn on his thigh and growled.

"What the fuck, I liked these jeans!" he yelled, staring into the misty shrubbery, trying to spot his prey, err, adversary.

"_How_ _could you_?" Another fireball, followed by a frustrated scream.

Dodging the slow projective, he attempted to goad whatever he was facing, "How could I do what? What are you talking about?" he decided it was safer to draw it out instead of going in pursuit.

"_You_…" a little beauty stepped out, her hair and eyes fire that didn't give off light, "you _betrayed_ me!" with that, he knew who he was facing, that face staring at him blankly, it was Revenge, and her body was sweet as sugar.

"When-how did I betray you, Revenge?" Yusuke asked, defensive now that he could see his opponent, though she ceased at the last bush, not daring to go further.

"You abandoned me, Yusuke, you left me to die." The apparition held her hand out, beckoning Yusuke to come closer. The boy was surprised, hearing his name on flame red lips, but this was Kagome's mind, so it shouldn't be surprising that all of the barriers they fought knew their names.

Yusuke shook his head, staying his position. "I didn't abandon you," he wanted to say 'Kagome,' "I, we, searched for you as soon as we knew you were gone."

"_Liar_! You left me to die, and now you're back to finish the job!" her flaming hair leapt, caressing the leaves in a deadly embrace. Surprisingly, not a leaf even dried out. Seeing that, he decided to risk getting burned by not dodging the next fireball lobbed his way. "I'll kill you before you can harm me again!" the ball hit his chest, flames splattering like a container of thrown paint. Despite the black and smoking hole of his green jacket, his skin beneath was only the red of a mild sunburn.

Touching the charred fabric, Yusuke sighed. "You have your revenge now, happy? Man, this was my favorite outfit too." He muttered, tossing aside the spent green jacket and white tee underneath.

Back in the real world, Kurama knocked on the door gently before entering, regardless of whether Inuyasha answered or not. "Papa… ah…" the Kitsune spotted Yusuke, Kuwabara and Keiko sitting around Kagome, nearly unmoving, while Inuyasha sat reluctantly in the desk chair with half finished ramen cooling on the desk. "So that's where those three got off to." He muttered, walking up to the bed as well. At such a close distance, he could faintly feel the human energy they exuded, focusing on their downed friend.

"…soon as we knew you were gone…" Kurama caught the tail-end of Yusuke's murmuring. Watching the Mazoku, he saw a sort of twitching, like his limbs couldn't quite move when they wanted. Walking over to his side of the bed, Kurama watched Yusuke's blank face for expression. It twitched like his limbs, but at least Yusuke moved, unlike the statuesque meditation of Keiko and Kuwabara.

"Yusuke…?"

"You have your revenge now, happy?" the ghost of a frown flashed past his face.

"Don't even try it pup." Inuyasha stayed Kurama's hand, about to shake his teammate and 'uncle' awake. "Kid's been mumbling shit like that since he sat there."

"Damnit, what does it take to make you happy, huh?" Kurama jumped, hearing Yusuke's sudden yell.

"And don't ask what they're doing, I have no clue either." Inuyasha sat back down, having jumped up to defend at the boy's sudden yell. Feeling wet, he looked over at the desk and the spilt ramen. "Gah, no use crying over spilled ramen." He mumbled, going into a hidden closet and pulling out some towels before it soaked into the carpet.

"Do you think they're doing something that has to do with the wings that they all have?" Kurama asked cautiously, standing between the bed and Inuyasha on the floor.

"Dunno. The four of 'em liked to meditate together when they were brats. Sit in a circle; hold hands and more often than not, the carrot-top would be talking the entire time." Sitting back onto his dried seat, Inuyasha contemplated the four on the bed. "And they paired up as well, the gaki and Yukimura-chan, then orange-brat and Kagome…"

"Momma… and Kuwabara, together." An involuntary shudder stole up the kitsune's spine. There were just some things that didn't happen. "That's just wrong.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, red." Kuwabara spoke, his eyes half mast and his body not moving.

"Kuwabara! I-I didn't know that you were… ah… awake." Kurama blushed and stuttered, completely caught off guard.

"Practice." He replied. Indeed, if it wasn't for the boy speaking, Kurama would have sworn by his breathing and heart rate that the human was asleep.

"How long have you-"

"Long enough." The psychic cut Kurama off, knowing what he was going to ask. "It's nice to know Hiei thinks I'm an idiot, awake or not. Though he probably knew when I was listening in anyway." There were several times during the Dark Tournament, especially during the beginning rounds, where the boys would talk while Kuwabara was (supposedly) crashed on the couch (and snoring quite loudly). On more than one occasion, Kurama had suggested finding another teammate, a demonic one, who was surer in their abilities. At that time, he only knew of the few times the previous year where they had tutored Kuwabara in sword basics, as well as how to defend from weak demons.

"Ah."

"Yeah." Even with trying, he couldn't keep all the emotion from his voice. "Now, shut up or leave, unless you _want_ me to lose concentration and force Urameshi to lose his mind in Kagome-chan's head." Kurama immediately shut up and sat down on the floor, using Inuyasha's chair leg as a backing, forgetting why he came up in the first place.

"Don't worry," Inuyasha murmured, his hand falling to the crown of Kurama's head, "If the gaki's anything like the pervert, he'll succeed at whatever spell he's weaving." Kurama nodded, content to wait for his family to come around.

It was a good deal later (so much so that Kurama's leg had fallen asleep) when Yusuke finally defeated Revenge, though it was more like he had no more energy left to spare and Revenge got in a lucky shot. "Gah!" Yusuke yelped in surprise, falling off the bed when he suddenly found himself back in his mortal body. "Damnit, let me back in!" Jumping up, he glared at Kuwabara and an awakening Keiko.

"Shut it, Urameshi." Kuwabara muttered, waiting until Keiko was fully awake before pulling himself from the mental plane.

"C'mon, it was a lucky hit, lemme—"

"I said, shut it, Urameshi." Kuwabara's fist shot out, catching the punk across the teeth. There was a moment of stunned silence as Yusuke wiped a wet trickle from his mouth. Realizing the red smear on his cuff, he yelled and sent Kuwabara off the bed in a flying tackle and flurry of punches. Rolling around, they grappled, trying for the top.

Finally, Yusuke pinned the larger human in a headlock, bending over at an unnatural angle, one leg pinned so that any movement would sent both down with Yusuke's elbow shoved into his solar plexus. "I said to let me try again, it was a freakin' lucky shot." Yusuke growled, jostling Kuwabara's neck.

"N-no way… in hell!" Kuwabara wheezed, wondering if getting out of the hold was worth getting elbowed to the floor.

"Yusuke, you're being an idiot." Keiko finally had enough, hands on her hips and rolling eyes. "Let Kazuma-kun go. There's no point in you going back in anyway. You won."

"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed, sitting on the floor and rubbing his bruised neck. "Ya went the wrong way. Left for unlocking, right for locking. The last guardian is defeated by letting it win."

"Well, I guess my turn's next then!" Keiko chirped, catching the darkening sky in the corner of her eye. "Then again maybe we should pick up on this tomorrow after school, I still have homework to finish."

"That would be a good idea," Kurama spoke up, remembering why he had come up in the first place, "though, undoubtedly, I am late for supper by now. Shall we go?"

Nodding, Keiko turned to Inuyasha and bowed, "see you tomorrow Inuyasha-san."

"Yeah," Kuwabara waved and followed Keiko out. Neither seeing the apologetic look and tender kiss on Kagome's brow.

"I'm sure," Kurama watched Yusuke put his tough guy act back on and leave, "that Momma is trying to get back to us as well." The door clicked shut behind him, and after a brief check into Hiei's room, met up with the trio out the front door and they walked to the nearby bus station.

Seeing as there would be no more interruptions that night, Inuyasha shut off the dimmed overhead lights and took up Yusuke's abandoned seat. Gently taking her hand, he kissed the corner of her mouth. "I… I love you, Kagome." Hesitating, he placed his hand over the new light in his life. "Please come back to me…" With that, he settled for his moonlight vigil.

* * *

Okay, I'm in a bit of a writer's funk, go figure. I'd still like baby names suggestions, though I have some ideas. Happy Single's Awareness Day!

Dark Inu Fan


	50. Awake

Chapter 50 (Da~ang. That's all I'll say): Awake

Disclaimer: Disclaimed.

Sankyuu my reviewers that actually decided to contact me, asking where the hell I was. Honestly, not getting enough reviews has gotten to me, but I guess I have to buck up and write this for my few oldies that're still following me, and for the new ones that still look upon me with hope when they start. Only to get frustrated at my… skills of updating. Six review people, six! Technically five since one was the same person logged in, then not.

* * *

Last time: seeing as there would be no more interruptions that night, Inuyasha shut off the dimmed overhead lights and took up Yusuke's abandoned seat. Gently taking her hand, he kissed the corner of her mouth. "I… I love you, Kagome." Hesitating, he placed his hand over the new light in his life. "Please come back to me…" With that, he settled for his moonlight vigil.

This time: "You're late." Growled Inuyasha, eyeing the teen trio as they rushed into the bedroom.

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" Keiko bowed and apologized for the two boys. Elbowing Yusuke, she gave him a peeved look. "We missed the bus since _somebody_ was late after playing truant." Yusuke gave a resigned look, having heard her argument the entire bus ride. There was no way to tell Keiko he was actually at the shrine all day, helping Auntie Gin pack up Kagome's stuff, and have it sound believable. Once a truant, always a truant, she would likely argue, having heard and dismissed it all already.

The previous day, they had managed to break three more of the gates. Keiko soothed Regret by telling the sobbing five-year-old spirit that nobody was dead, even after five-hundred years. Then Doubt stumped Kuwabara with his roundabout way of speaking, ending in the single male spirit being decimated by an overpowered slash by a frustrated Kuwabara's sword. Yusuke went last, suffering under the waterfall of tears produced by Sorrow. He refused to say what happened and blushed whenever it was brought up. As the watchers, Kuwabara and Keiko watched the war-god hold a human Kagome awkwardly for the better part of an hour, letting itself cry to sleep before he quickly and silently killed her.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Yusuke muttered, absently pulling off his green jacked and white under tee. "Let's just get this show on the road already."

"Whose turn is it today?" Kuwabara asked, copying Yusuke's movements with his sky-blue jacket. Keiko had changed on the bus' bathroom on the way over. She now wore a backless black halter with red embroidered dragon and a pair of black skinny jeans.

"Mine. And if things are in order, I'll be talking to Self-Worth." Yusuke winced at Keiko's analysis. It wasn't that Keiko was _bad_ socially, it was more like the two could never see eye to eye. For someone to see their own self-worth, they would need a friend to hold up the mirror to reflect their soul, not an enemy. Any action, any gesture or comment that could even hint in a negative way would shatter the soul behind the locks.

"Just," Yusuke held up his hand in a helpless gesture, "try not to do anything stupid." He would have volunteered himself to go, but with only seven gates, he had already taken on his two to defeat. To keep the balance, they had to keep equal opportunity with unlocking each one.

Keiko rolled her eyes, "I'm not stupid, Yusuke. I _know_ what I'm doing here, unlike _some_ idiots that went the wrong way." Sitting down, Keiko waited for Kuwabara to start with one eye cracked. After two days, Inuyasha grew used to how the teens worked. Picking up the discarded shirts, he tossed them and the trio of school bags, onto the pale blue love seat. He had nothing to complain about though, whatever the trio was doing, it seemed to work. The first night, Kagome shifted on her own, her eyes moving rapidly under her eyelids in REM sleep, and last night she was even murmuring, on the verge of wakefulness. Though, despite all his attempts, Kagome remained untouchable in the realm of her mind.

In the dream realm, Keiko looked around, trying to pierce through the dense fog of unconsciousness. "Hello?" she called, knowing this was the correct spot.

"Go away!" the wavering voice called out from all angles, a denser section of fog moved, and a vague darker shape of a human, sorry, hanyou moved. "Leave me alone!"

"Sorry," Keiko shook her head, hip jutted to one side and elbow resting on top, "no can do." The fog chose this moment to clear enough for Keiko to watch the spirit turn and walk away. Squawking indignantly, she lunged and just managed to catch the end of its long shirt. Stopping, it turned to face Keiko, its expression blank. In fact, its entire face was blank. There was naught but two divots where the eyes should have been, its nose was a small ripple on the smooth face with nostrils, and its mouth. The mouth was invisible except for when it opened to speak.

"Why bother, leave me alone." Turning to leave again, Keiko kept a hold on the plain shirt.

"No, I won't." Seeing as she had its attention, _she hoped, there was no face_, Keiko stood straight and let go of the shirttail. "I won't leave you alone until you can show me your face." The spirit turned completely toward Keiko and presented a plain brown sack. She had the impression that it was smirking as she cautiously looked inside.

"Eiya!" Keiko yelped, nearly dropping the bag. She expected things, but not the bag actually _looking_ back at her. In fact, quite a few sets of eyes stared back, and she swore that one even winked at her.

"Ah…?" Keiko looked up at the blank figure, hoping for an explanation.

Shrugging, it turned away, only for a sleeve to be grabbed. "Ch-chotto matte!" Keiko looked between the Faceless and the bag held delicately by one corner. "I'm supposed to find your face now, aren't I?"

Faceless shrugged again, "It's yours now. Leave me alone." Its voice was almost as bland as its non-existent face, though touched with a bit of annoyance.

Tugging on the sleeve once more, she drew Faceless down to sit on a log beside her. "I told you, I'm not leaving. Please, just sit down."

The body flinched, but complied, "I've done some horrible things, let me go." Keio had no clue that the simple word 'sit' would drag the spirit deeper into despair.

"Look, we've all done things we regret." She started off, trying not to squirm as she dug through the bag she held for a matching eye that blinked up from her lap. "The idea is that we move on and learn from those experiences. Take me for example." She held up an eye, scrutinizing it carefully before putting it back. "Do you know how hard it is to deal with not knowing whether your boyfriend is going to go off and die or get another girlfriend. I mean, he could come back one day and say 'Keiko, meet my mate!' Sometimes I wonder why I haven't broken up with him."

"That's cold." Yusuke murmured, watching the scene through his spectral form. There was definitely some 'Keiko-only' time to be needed, and soon.

"There," Keiko held up a pair of matching eyes, handing them to the no-face. "Can you try this on? See? We all do things that we end up questioning; it's just what you do with it that matters." It was easier to find the matching mouth and nose, the same ones that Kagome had since she was a child. Finally seeing the familiar face, Keiko smiled. The hanyou attempted to smile back, but something was off.

Back to digging through the bag, she pulled out a different mouth for her to try on, "Like with me and Yusuke, he would be completely lost if I wasn't waiting for him. Sometimes all it takes is for a single person to wait for you to come home. Do you wait for anyone, or do thy wait for you?"

"Mama," the no-longer-faceless looked away, remembering. Even with the correct facial features, the hanyou still held no expression.

* * *

"Mama…"

"What? Kagome, are you awake?" Inuyasha jumped up from his seat, rushing to his sleeping mate's side. The word was more like a breath of air, but Inuyasha didn't care. Leaning over his sleeping beauty, he brushed errant bangs out of her face, opposite hand planted on her other side. "Please, look at me, _anything_," he whispered, desperate. Nodding, Inuyasha stood up, taking a steadying breath. It was just his imagination, a hallucination from stress and lack of sleep. Maybe some fresh air would do some good. The kids were focused on whatever they were doing and weren't any threat at the moment.

Turning away, he dragged his suddenly leaden feet to the door. Hand resting on the knob, he took another breath, a steadying one this time, and turned it. Forcing himself not to look back. The click of the door shutting ricocheted in his ears like a death toll. The empty hall echoed his muffled footsteps, reflecting the empty hope that rattled his dead chest.

"Inuyasha…"

* * *

"Inuyasha?" the face echoed, learning a confused expression.

Keiko nodded, "Yeah, and Kurama, Sango-san and Miroku-san as well. They're waiting for you to come back, to wake up again."

"No," she shook her head, "they're all dead, how can they be the ones waiting for me?"

Keiko smirked and shrugged. "Your wish must have had some incredible health plan, since Miroku-san and Sango-san look really, really good for being almost five-hundred year old humans. And you know Kurama's at least waiting for you. Dang, if I wasn't dating Yusuke, I'd be after fox tail faster than you can say 'bishonen'! Brains, brawn, looks _and_ manners… and available. Dang, why is that boy still single? You can never find all the good stuff in one guy these days!" Faceless finally cracked a smile at that, shaking her head.

"Couldn't find it all that often back then either." Keiko responded with a relieved smile and laugh. The specter soon faded, and then the world beyond as she came back to the conscious plane.

* * *

"Hey Keiko," Yusuke smiled softly, "you wanna take a break before going the last round?"

Looking down at Kagome's sleeping face, Keiko nodded, "Yeah, that might be a good idea. Have we decided who will go in a third time yet?" I don't exactly want to do it twice in a row, but I can if I have to."

The boys shrugged, not exactly wanting to say anything about going a third time. "Oi," Kuwabara looked around, noticing a missing occupant, "where did Inuyasha go?"

"Dunno." Yusuke turned to leave, "Probably in the crapper. Hurry up; I smell your mother's dinner almost ready. Oden from the smell of it." Waving back, Yusuke left, off to get first dibs on the choice bits. Keiko shook her head, following after her boyfriend. Sometimes she had to swear demonic powers enhanced his nose as well, but he'd always been like that.

* * *

"Kagome's gone!" Sango slammed into the dining room, bereft of the tray she had brought up for Inuyasha's dinner.

"Wut?" Yusuke asked, halfway through a dumpling.

"Where's Inuyasha, wasn't he with her?" Miroku asked, sitting back, refusing to get panicked until he knew all the facts.

Sango shook her head, but Keiko was the only one to speak up. "He wasn't there when we got done; we thought he was using the bathroom."

"Got her." As soon as Sango had barged in, Kuwabara focused his spirit energy on Kagome's aura tag, seeking her out. Standing up, he held up his hands, forming a circle and crosshairs with a random dot in one quadrant. "She's not that far." The visual was purely for the others to see, and an exorcise in manipulation control.

"Dang," Yusuke sighed, looking at his untouched and cooling oden, standing up. "Auntie would kill us if we lost her little girl." Walking the direction that Kuwabara indicated, he wasn't surprised when the others followed.

"I'll go find Inuyasha." Miroku volunteered, detouring to the dojo to pick up a quarter staff. After living the past few hundred years with the errant hanyou, he pretty much knew where all his hiding spots were.

Opening the shoji door to the dojo, Miroku easily spotted the head of white hair and bright red polo shirt that sulked on the porch. "Oi," the quarter staff simply fell, the hard wood hitting right between puppy ears. "Do you know where your mate is?" Each word was punctuated with another hit.

"Yeah," Inuyasha snorted, not moving except for the flattening of his ears, "she's still asleep up in her room, and not waking up any time soon."

His grip tightened on the staff, swallowing a growled-out 'idiot' and grabbed his collar, roughly pulling him off the porch railing. "No," _you idiot hanyou_, "she's not. Obviously she's awake, since she's no longer in her room." Taking care to find the big ones on the rock path, Miroku dragged Inuyasha toward where he felt the others going.

"Kagome's awake?" Inuyasha asked incredulously, pulling from Miroku's grip on his now stretched-out collar.

"And missing," Miroku crossed his arms, resisting smacking the hanyou around a few more times. "What you _you_ do if you woke up in a strange place with nobody familiar around?"

Inuyasha snorted, looking up from where he sat on the path, "What about—"

"They're _teenagers_, Inuyasha. They assumed you were in the bathroom and left to get food…" Rolling his eyes, Miroku realized that Inuyasha stopped paying attention to the lecture when he started sniffing around for her scent.

"This way." Inuyasha murmured, standing up and walking off, ignoring the flower beds in his way and just leaping over them. Huffing in annoyance, Miroku followed, taking the path that he had already been walking on.

The group had already found Kagome, kneeling in a copse of trees, and spread out, hiding in the surrounding bushes. Unsure what to really do, they watched her for a sign. It didn't seem like she was going to run again, but she still twitched at every sound. Landing gently, Inuyasha didn't bother hiding like the others. Walking past the bush Yusuke kneeled behind, the boy shot him a hushed 'be careful' with the tone more along the line of 'don't hurt her.' Nodding, he pushed past the bush, accidently snapping a dry twig.

Startled, Kagome spun around and growled. She smelled somewhat familiar scents, but couldn't remember exactly from where. "Kagome?" a white man spoke gently, standing tall, "do you remember me?" his hands were held in a placating gesture. A step forward forced her eyes to glue to his, though her ears twitched wildly. People, everywhere, surrounded. The man took another step and she shifted to a crouch easily.

"Shit, she's gonna run!" Yusuke hissed, and she did, hearing the anger-sound. Stars exploded behind his eyes, courtesy of a hard smack from Sango.

"Stalking rule number one: _be quiet_." She growled, standing up. She watched Inuyasha's retreating back as he chased after a panicking Kagome. "Great, well, we might as well go back in. Show's over, everyone." Clapping, she herded the teens back inside, only to meet with a confused Kurama in the front hall.

"Mama's gone." He stated, eyes wide.

Shooing the others back to the dining room, Sango nodded. "Apparently she woke up after the latest session to an empty room and ran. Inuyasha's going after her now."

"Should I—"

"No, don't bother." Sango held up her hand and shook her head. "Inuyasha might be an idiot, but he knows to bring her back when she's ready. Though don't ask me when that will be. Have you had dinner yet?' she asked, gesturing to the full dining room. "I made oden, so you might want to hurry before it disappears completely." Blushing, he went in and grabbed a clean bowl to serve himself.

"How were classes? Miroku asked as soon as Kurama took his first bit. Nearly turning the same pink as his school uniform, he managed to swallow and smile.

"Good. There was a test in botany today, though I'm positive to get a good grade." He gave a wry grin that made Miroku chuckle. One thing with having an extended life was re-taking classes as students that they could most likely teach better than their sensei. For example, Miroku had just finished a theology class focusing on Buddhism. More than once he had to bite his cheek to keep from correcting misinformation.

"I hope so; I have no clue what your mother would do if you didn't."

"Miroku," Sango sighed, "do you really have to?" She stood by the door, trying to be subtle with her lookout for the hanyou couple.

"Anata, come sit down," Miroku waved at his wife, "it's been five hundred years to catch up on, it might take a while."

"Yeah, I'm jus—" Sango turned from the door, only to see Miroku waggling his brows. "You perv—She's _pregnant_ Miroku!"

"That didn't stop us, did it dear?" Sango huffed and sat down across her mate.

"That's great, I'm done eating." Kuwabara pushed his half-eaten bowl away and stood up. "I'm going out."

"Ok, have fun," Kuwabara could swear his father smiled evilly, "Just announce your presence if you disturb anyone!" The teen's face couldn't decide whether to be red, green or white in fright as he walked out the door.

* * *

"Kagome, stop!" Caution trying not to hurt her led to the extended chase that Inuyasha was quickly tiring of. "This is getting ridiculous," he muttered. Taking a long leap, he caught her around the middle, rolling mid-air to take the brunt of the fall. On the ground, Kagome clawed and growled to get free, unsuccessful in everything but to have gentle arms wrap around her torso tighter.

Taking an ear, Inuyasha bit down gently, growling low in his throat. It tended to generally be a relaxing sound, and this time was no different. "Kagome, can you talk to me?" he asked hesitantly. She had gone limp, though her hard breathing proved she was still awake.

"Inu… Yasha?" she asked softly, not knowing what was happening.

"Kagome, my Kagome." He whispered, failing at keeping his emotions in check. Arms wrapped around her tightly, one hand splayed on the small bump of life on her abdomen. His nose buried in her hair, her unique scent like a drug. "Five hundred years, love, five hundred long years. Please don't leave me again." Out in the middle of the forests with his face buried in her hair, he didn't care any longer. Salt wafted in the air and her hair became soaked with silent tears.

"Inuyasha, what happened?" she asked, frightened, unable to move. Ignoring her question, he started in on her junction, alternating between bites and desperate kisses. Eventually grip loosened only enough to turn around to face her mate. Her question turned into a moan as he found a particular spot and scraped a fang against it. His hand slipped into her yukata, pressing against her heated flesh. Claws' scraping gently down her side sent shivers down her spine and raised goose pimples.

"Inuyasha?" she gasped, threading her hands through his hair, claw tips finding the base of his ears. Her yukata had slipped off one shoulder as her belt loosened, exposing her birth mark. His kisses trailed from the pulse on her throat down to the dip between her breasts.

Stopping suddenly, Inuyasha rested his forehead on her collarbone and shook his head. "No," he whispered to himself, "Not now, not yet." His breath cooled and warmed her chest wonderfully. Sitting back, he pulled his hand from her yukata and gently pulled it back up, smoothing it back to where it was supposed to be. Cupping her jaw, his thumb gently caressed her cheek. "I love you, Kagome. You have no idea how hard it was to wait five hundred hears to say that." He gently caressed her lips, first with his thumb, followed tenderly by lips. "Especially when I was watching you grow up." Chuckling, he kissed her forehead and stood up, holding out a hand. "Come one, the others are waiting back at the house."

Taking his hand, she was easily swept up into a bridal hold. "Others?" Taking a quick spin, Inuyasha stole a brief kiss and smiled like a child before taking off.

"Do you remember your wish?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Apparently it had some very interesting results. A few years after you… disappeared, Sango and the pervert realized that they were looking remarkably good for a pair of old fogies –his words, not mine- so they left Edo." Kagome could feel his shrug. "We think that the jewel gave them enough demonic blood to slow their aging to absolute minimum. They've been living in Briton for the last twenty or so, hunting down netherworld spirits. Your friend, Kazumaru, is their youngest brat." Arriving at the edge of the back garden, Inuyasha let Kagome down and took her hand. "Though, time changes all, but the pervert's still a pervert. Speaking of…" Tugging her hand, Inuyasha pointed ahead to the couple sitting in a gazebo in the middle of the gardens.

"Ah, Kagome-chan!" Sango was the first to notice of the 'human' pair and rushed out to envelop the (now much) younger girl in a hug.

"Hmm…" Miroku gave Kagome a brief hug and stepped back to inspect the girl, "You seem much too neat for a romp in the woods," turning to Inuyasha, his hand rested on his chin. "You lost your stuff there ol' boy?"

"Wha-No!" Inuyasha turned red and they could tell how fast Kagome caught on by the speed of her face as it flushed. "I'm just not going to do something stupid like that to endanger the pups!" he growled out, stepping slightly forward to protect his mate.

"Inuyasha," Sango smiled sweetly, "You're not going to hurt them, trust me." Hand on his arm, she turned to Kagome with a wink. "Only once so far. Honey, it's even better the next time around!"

"Yeah," Miroku couldn't help but grin, "and it's even better when she's pregnant. Greatest contraceptive out there!" Inuyasha was inventing a new shade of red and Kagome was making choking noises.

Smiling, Sango grabbed Kagome's arm and started dragging her toward the house. "Let's get you some new clothes, love, while your mate tries to kill my husband again, ok?" Indeed, the moment Kagome was dragged indoors, a strangled yell sounded from behind, complimented by the crunch of rocks and the chuckling of a half-apology.

Inside, they quickly encountered the teenagers lounging around, doing homework and chatting. Standing up quickly, Kurama gave Kagome a hug, burying his nose in the shorter woman's hair. "Mama, **okaeri**." Kissing her brow, he barely noticed the shift from redhead to half a foot taller with platinum blonde hair, ears and tail.

"Shippou, my baby, tadaima." Looking up, she shook her head in mock sorrow. "Though, I guess you're a little too tall for me to greet you properly."

"Sorry, Mama," Kurama grinned, easily dropping to his knees and putting his ears within easy reach. "Is this better?" An excited squeal was her response as he looped his arms around her waste in a hug, face pressed to her stomach like he was a child again. "Hello," he murmured, too quiet to hear, "be good to mama, ok?" with a tendril of energy, he touched the two new life forms. Getting sparks of life in return brought a smile to his face and he gave in to the ear rub, purring in contentment.

"Shippou, honey, do you think I can get the whole story now?" Kagome asked softly, but it snapped him out of his fuzzy-relaxed state. "From the beginning."

Nodding, he didn't bother pulling back. "You will, but after you're feeling better." His thumb and first finger circled her wrist easily when he grabbed it, making a point. "We're not going anywhere soon, so don't worry." Reluctantly pulling back, he shrunk back to his human form and stood up.

The others, who had been silent until now, took their turns, Yusuke first with a hug. "You're a pain to rescue, you know that?" He thumped her n the head lightly, "_don't_ do that again."

"Yeah, yeah. Its not like I _try_ to get caught Yusuke." Keiko looked up and gave a nod of the head, which was all that was needed between the two. In the background, Sango gave a wry smile. In her mind, 'Kagome' was written as 'perpetual bait,' despite being her best friend.

Lastly was Kuwabara, hand rubbing the back of his head and blush dusting the bridge of his nose. "Auntie Kagome…"

At that, Kagome burst into laughter, having to use the back of a chair to help keep her upright. "Don't you _ever_ address me as aunt, Kuwabara." Her eyes and voice broke no argument, despite the spattering of giggles that punctuated her speech. "If you do, I'd be forced to hurt you."

"Yeah," Yusuke spoke up from the couch he leaned against, "that'd make us relatives… I'd be a monkey's uncle."

"Take that back, Urameshi!" Kuwabara growled, fist clenched and ready to swing.

Smirking, he stood up straight in prospective of a fight, "Why don't you make me, I'm right here." Opening his arms wide, he completely dropped his defenses in a taunt. It had been too long since his last good brawl.

"_Out_side you two." Sango stepped between them before any furniture or antiques could be broken. "Your father and cousin-in-law are already sparring; maybe you can ask to join in?" The request was more like an order, the tone demanding immediate obedience. Bowing their heads, Kuwabara quickly led Yusuke out.

"Dang," Kagome shook her head, waiting until the two had left. "I'm going to have to learn that, won't I?"

"Kazumaru may be my first boy, but I had three girls and Shippou to look after first… and Kohaku. All it takes is practice and a little diplomacy." Looking after the boys, Sango turned and clapped her hands together. "Now, let's get some proper clothes on you and a good meal in your belly, and then we can have story time." And with that, Sango dragged Kagome off to the bedrooms to try on clothes.

* * *

Yep, its official, I love writing the lines that Perverts get to say. Pure comedic 3AM gold there! Now, there is one thing I have to say that I hate to say, but it's true: reviews make me update faster. I have the next chapter already written up and all I need is to type it up… and I'm not doing that unless I get asked in reviews. I'm going for a solid 1000 reviews here; won't you help me in my goal?

Words you ought to know: (please excuse me if I don't have things 100 percent correct here, these are my own definitions, thus not completely reliable.)

**R.E.M.**: Rapid Eye Movement; the time when you're dreaming when you're asleep.

**Chotto matte**: hold on; wait up.

**Bishonen**: cute/hot guy. Bishojo is cute girl.

**Oden**: Stew.

**Shoji**: sliding door of bamboo and waxed rice paper.

**Anata**: dear; affectionate term usually used from wife to husband, but can be used from husband to wife.

**Yukata**: lightweight summer kimono usually used to sleep in.

**Okaeri**: Welcome home

**Tadaima**: informal 'I'm home.'

See you all next time!

Dark Inu Fan


	51. Story Time

Chapter 51: Story Time (1000 review special)

Disclaimer: Ya'll know it's not mine, so don't ask if it is.

**Dedicated to Yumi Stern, my 1,000th reviewer! Your gift is at the bottom of the chapter in the form of a short story explaining YYH, per your request.**

Last time: "Kazumaru may be my first boy, but I had three girls and Shippou to look after first… and Kohaku. All it takes is practice and a little diplomacy." Looking after the boys, Sango turned and clapped her hands together. "Now, let's get some proper clothes on you and a good meal in your belly, and then we can have story time." And with that, Sango dragged Kagome off to the bedrooms to try on clothes.

"Okay, so am I going to get what I missed any time soon?" Kagome's patience was at its end, especially with spending the past two and a half weeks (it felt like more since she was in the Shadow Realm) believing that everyone was dead. Lying on the couch, she was propped up on Inuyasha how they used to sit on the tree branches together. Kurama sat by her head, within easy reach of her claws, gently scraping through his hair. Miroku and Sango sat, comfortably intertwined on the loveseat across the coffee table. Keiko had quickly claimed the chair, leaving the two boys (one holding an ice pack) to sit on either side of the table.

The adults exchanged looks before Sango huffed and leaned forward, brushing hair out of her eyes. "I guess I get to tell the story this time then. After you dis—were pulled through the well the last time, we decided to put off the wedding until we found out what happened. Going back to Mushishi, Inuyasha tried to use the well, only to find it blocked and useless."

"_Inuyasha, stop this, you're just hurting yourself." Sango stood beside the well, holding an umbrella with a yellow duckie and 'Piyo-piyo' printed on one panel. Mud was splashed up one side of her kimono from refusing to move as Inuyasha continued to destroy himself by jumping in and out of the bone-eater's well. Demon bones continued to disappear into the flow of time, but it had yet to react to his desperate acts. It had been a solid month since the unintentional wish and even if there had been a break in the rain clouds to see the night, there was no moon in the sky._

"It actually took a few months before we noticed, but when we did, it was somewhat of a bittersweet blessing in disguise." Sango nodded to Inuyasha to continue.

Putting his hand in hers, Inuyasha gave a small squeeze. "The jewel gave me control over my demonic blood, as long as I became human one day every lunar cycle, or equivalent time, the same with full demon." His hand softened, claws retracting into fragile human nails, then, with a small growl, transformed from soft nails to dainty points of a hanyou, to inch-long talons of a demon in a matter of moments. A single indigo stripe circled his wrist, as jagged as the matching ones on his cheeks.

Out of curiosity, Kagome turned to see his face when it was demonic, wondering if she would find red eyes with glowing teal slitted pupils. She couldn't help but sigh in relief seeing familiar amber. Smiling, Inuyasha revealed elongated canines, purring when Kagome's dainty claws traced his jagged marks. "Your ears…" she traced humanoid ears with their distinctive supernatural point.

"What?" he asked, taking her hand in both of his, "Don't tell me you miss the hanyou ears?" her expression was all he needed as he released the power needed to maintain that form. Immediately she latched on, not ashamed to be sprawled all over her mate. Eyes closed in pleasure, Inuyasha stole a kiss, hands sneaking up the back of her blouse.

"Ahem," Miroku coughed, hiding a grin in his fist. "I believe we still have story time. You two can play show-and-tell later. And in private, if it's not too much to ask." Embarrassed, the couple stopped. "Better. _Let's just wonder how long it'll last now_."

"_Miroku_!" Sango backhand whapped him across the arm, "Play nice! Now, where was I? Oh, yes, well, after a year of waiting for you to come back and watching Inuyasha try to kill himself, we finally decided that we weren't getting any younger and decided to marry. Of course, it didn't help that I was well on my way toward the birth of our first girl." Sango stuttered to a stop, having to wipe her eyes several times. Rubbing her arms, Miroku offered to continue, but Sango shook her head and plowed on. "Shippou was a wonderful older brother when Izumi was younger. When we had to go out on a job he watched over her until we got back. It was when Yuzuru started looking older than us that we started suspecting something was the matter."

"It was hard," Miroku stepped in, "but after the girls were safe in their own lives and didn't need us anymore, we 'died.' Kohaku-kun kept an eye on them while he was still able to before he moved on to the next world."

"We started traveling around the world then, beginning in India and moving around every ten yours or so when people started getting suspicious."

"Spirit World was just getting off the ground as well, remember Sango?" Miroku spoke up. "They asked for us to work for them quite a few times."

"Yes," Sango sighed and closed her eyes. "How many times did we say no, just for them to pounce once our only son showed an ounce of talent?"

"Umm… Mom," Kuwabara raised his hand, embarrassed. "I volunteered after they brought Yusuke back the first time."

"No, before that, but I wasn't happy about that either. You were three when they came to offer to train you. Having the ghost of a knight as a babysitter didn't help keep you away from their radar either, I guess." Sango shrugged.

"So by sticking him with Rin and Shizuru-chan would keep him off radar?" Inuyasha scoffed.

"It worked long enough. He's just a detective instead of one of Sesshoumaru's drones."

"Uhh… Tall, blonde and creepy? When did he come into this story?" Yusuke spoke up. A grin was all the warning Keiko had before she was lifted up and her seat on the chair taken, and then pulled back into Yusuke's lap.

Inuyasha snorted, "_Nee_-san goes my Enma-Diou these days, especially since he took over the separation of the demon and human worlds."

"Separation?"

"I told you about that, Kags—"

"It was another effect of your wish, or the Shikon at least. The world started splitting after you… the wish with demons getting their own world. It's still not perfect, but that's where Sesshoumaru's drones come in, and sometimes his son's monkeys when there's an easy job to do." Yusuke bristled at being called a monkey.

"So its cousin Koenma.." Kurama couldn't help but chuckle. "I heard that he had a short political mating, but I didn't know that anything came of it."

Keiko started whistling, shaking her head. "What?" Yusuke asked, confused.

"_There is just one moon and one golden sun_…" Blank looks greeted her spontaneous lyrics. "It's a small world? Disney? Jeez, if I'm listening to this right, you're all related or at least practically treat each other like it!" Silence met her statement, the others looking at each other with varying expressions.

In the end, Miroku shrugged. "That's what happens after five hundred years of networking, everyone starts to be related in one way or another."

"At the very least by now, if you don't know anyone, you know someone who does." Sango added to her husband's comment.

"Why are you here anyway, Keiko-chan?" Kagome asked, turning to face the human girl. "Last time I checked, you didn't want to even be in the same school as me, let alone talk to me."

Keiko snorted, "Trust me, I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the _birds_."

"Birds? ... Oh…." Kagome paled, sitting up straight, "What happened?" Digging it out f his pocket, Kuwabara handed Kagome a packet of black ribbon, just like the ones around Keiko's neck, Yusuke's arm and his head.

"Ah--" Keiko spoke up, but was quickly hushed.

"Its cool, if they didn't know before, they should have figured it out, what with having _wings_ and all for the past four days." Even if he wasn't rolling his eyes, the sarcasm was heavy in his voice. "Kuwabara, you're the one that talked to the contact, stop keeping us all in suspense already." Sliding Keiko off his lap, Yusuke took Kagome's ribbon and quickly weaved it into her hair, golden threads glinting in the light as it was tightened into a complicated knot with loose ends splaying against her neck.

"Sure, right." Sliding up to the table, Kuwabara propped his chin in one hand, trying to figure where to start. "By now you guys have regained your memories from Dream Time, especially the last mission before we were retired." Yusuke and Kagome shared a twitch and Keiko looked about ready to faint. "Well, he's back."

_Four angel children hovered, holding celestial weapons, facing a dark figure that seemed as bit as the world. Eyes glowed red as a chuckle shook the universe. It raised one black hand, fire formed claws that could cut time _

_"Move!"_

_"Keiko!"_

_"Aah!"_

A scream that had woken the four up from many nightmares, despite all memories of being Dream Angels were erased after that last time. "He's back and the kids have disappeared after a simple Soul Piper mission. _They_ assumed that he ate their souls." Kuwabara's face was green, despite knowing about this for the better part of a month.

"So, they're playing the 'once and always' card on us, huh?" Yusuke sat around the table, one leg pulled up to his chin.

"Yeah," Kuwabara looked at his teammates, eyes lingering on Keiko for a moment longer. "They figured that with our abilities and experience, we were the best to send in."

Seeing the unasked question in Kuwabara's eyes, Keiko took a shuddering breath, arms wrapped around her knees. "Yeah, I'll be fine, I-I'll be careful." Nodding, he turned to Kagome.

"I have to do this."

"Kagome—" Inuyasha stiffened, gearing up for an argument.

"No, Inuyasha, I have to do this. Especially a time like now when he's weak and I'm powerful." She wrapped her harms around her flat stomach and closed her eyes in determination. "I have to do this for my babies, for others' babies, that would never wake up if he's not killed."

"Inuyasha-sama, I'm going to put up a spell also," Kuwabara bowed as best as he could sitting down. "It'll displace any injury in the unlikely case your mate does get hurt in spirit form, to the three of us." Kagome was about to object, but it really was for the best as the most vulnerable member of the group.

"So, who is this person you're speaking about, anyway?" Kurama asked, trying to follow along with the secretive conversation.

"You remember that teammate of yours, the one that ate souls?" Yusuke finally answered. "Same type of demon."

"But it's like saying Tigers and Persians are the same exact thing." Kuwabara snorted, only to get blank looks. "Eh-he-he, meow? Shutting up now." Ekiji wandered in then, plopping down next to his ward and exposing his stomach to get scratched.

"Only he ate kids' souls because he called them a delicacy, this guys eats souls that have the taste of power to increase his own. If he could, he would put the world to sleep, permanently." Yusuke picked up where he left. "Without the soul, the body goes into a coma, eventually rotting alive where it lies."

"Those children," Sango gasped, hands flying to her mouth as she realized something. "Miroku, those children that have fallen ill and haven't woken up, remember reading those articles in the paper?" Miroku nodded, looking grim.

"Unfortunately," Keiko had her face buried in her knees, "Most of those kids were probably Angel Squad and their souls are gone by now. They'll never wake up, no matter how hard their parents pray." She looked up, her eyes haunted as they looked at the far wall. "Its almost cruel, not letting the body die. It just rots, connected to those machines that give the illusion of life." Yusuke slid behind her, gently rubbing the invisible scars of sheared-off wings. Nothing was said, all remembering Keiko's near-death at the hands of the monster, her body virtually dead as her soul suffered, trying to heal the impossible.

"Keiko-chan…"

"I'll be fine," Keiko scoffed, shrugging off Yusuke's careful ministrations. "Let's just get this guy already." She stood, fists clenched at her sides.

"Not yet." Yusuke was uncharacteristically soft-spoken. "This weekend, since we've waited this long already. We need to gather strength and supplies… And Kags has to tell Auntie that she's alive and well. For some reason, she thinks I'm covering by saying she's at the Dog's House." Kagome bit off her retort and smack upside the head, since Keiko got there first.

"Yusuke! ("Oww! Can you call spousal abuse bore you're mated?" "I did! Ow!") Well, either way, I'll get candles. I'm assuming that we're using _that_ place then?"

"Yeah." Kagome allowed herself to be pulled into Inuyasha's embrace once again. "Tomorrow when I visit Mama, I'll order the incense from Hojo's family's shop and get started on cleansing the grounds. I bet it's most likely grown over by now."

"So that leaves me with… What, again? Kuwabara's going to spend all of Friday drawing circles, so I have nothing to do."

"You can help Mama with packing like what you've likely been doing already." Kagome shrugged. "Knowing her, nearly everything in my room is boxed up and ready to move here, and she dragged you to help." Her nose crinkled, "and you smell like brown packing tape."

"Ha, really? Blame your brother tor that one. He attacked me with an old roll that the glue was coming off the backing." Bringing his am up, he sniffed it. "Thought I got it all off. Oh, well."

"Sorry to interrupt," Miroku looked out the darkened window, "but it's late. Do you kids want a ride home?"

"No thanks, old man," Yusuke shrugged. "its dark enough out, I was planning on taking the express route home while I still have 'em. Keiko?"

Arms crossed, the girl blew bangs out of her face. "Fine, but we have to be careful. The forecast said that it would be nice, so there'll be star watchers out."

"And you, young men," Sango grabbed her taller son's collar before he could join his classmates, "are staying here. Shizuru said that she's staying at a friend's tonight and I don't want you in that house by yourself, okay."

"Yes Mama."

"I guess its just you and me then, Shippou, or are you staying too?"

Kurama looked outside and winced. "I told mother that I'd be back before dark, so yes, a ride would be nice."

"See you all tomorrow then," Keiko said from the door, waiting for Yusuke to retrieve their bags. "Maybe we can finish that story we started earlier?"

Kagome blinked, "That's true, we did kind of get distracted, didn't we?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Inuyasha muttered darkly into Kagome's hair, sending a chill down her spine. "I just want o get to 'show and tell' already." No wonder there was something poking her in the back that was most definitely not a remote control.

Passing the sitting room door, Yusuke handed Keiko her bag before giving Inuyasha a knowing look. "Don't hurt her. See ya tomorrow, Kags-chan!" Waving, the two left to take wing.

"Take care Mama," Kurama pecked Kagome on the cheek. "Papa's been frustrated since the 80's, so have fun!" Laughing, he avoided a swipe of claws and walked out behind Miroku.

Hearing the door close, Inuyasha let out a sigh of relief and picked Kagome up bridal style. "About damn time they all left." He growled out. Conveniently Sango and Kazuma had disappeared, supposedly to choose his bedroom. "Your room or mine?" he shook his head, stupid question. "Never mind."

* * *

Special short (and horribly planned-out) story for my 1,000th reviewer: Yumi Stern!!!

* * *

"Oi, Urameshi, I've been thinking…" Taking a break from 'training' (AKA beating the snot out of each other), the two teens sat on Genkai's porch, casually watching the surrounding forests and monitoring the local demons' auras.

"Did it hurt?" Yusuke grinned, only half-dodging the hit Kuwabara landed his shoulder.

"Har-har." Rolling his eyes at his best friend, he turned back to the trees, his face falling into a melancholy tilt of the mouth. "I was thinking back about how this all started."

"What, you thinking about how you've been my personal punching dummy since we were fourteen?"

"No… yes." Kuwabara sighed, scooting back to lean on the wall, one leg propped up. "More like the first time that you died, and how that started everything."

"Ah, yes." Closing his eyes, Yusuke still saw that kid as he chased his ball across the street, his mindless thought as he jumped in the way, trying to save the infant from the front grill of the speeding car, leading to his death. "You know what, one of the first things that Botan told me when I came to was that if I hadn't pushed the kid out of the way, he would have come out of it with half the scrapes, because his ball would cushion him from the car. Instead, I had to be an idiot and get myself killed pointlessly."

Looking at his friend, Kuwabara couldn't help a small chuckle. "That sucks. If I died saving a kid like that, that's the last thing I'd want to hear. Though…" His eyes grew distant, "I'm glad that Koenma gave you a second chance… Though I could have done without that spirit dream you sent me." Both shuddering, Yusuke took a swig from his water bottle and spit it on the ground. The condition of coming back to life was for his body to receive a life-giving kiss. At that time, he didn't have many friends at all, so the only people he could ask were his Mother, who was gone on yet another drinking binge since his 'death,' Kuwabara and Keiko. It was pure luck that Keiko was his 'life saver' after both Atsuko and Kuwabara ignored his summons and his body was not yet prepared to receive his soul back that morning.

"Bah, thinking about it, it only got worse from there." Swirling the water in his bottle, Yusuke thought back on his first mission. "Its sad, my lady luck ended up being unlucky for herself the first couple of missions. First there was retrieving the artifacts from Kurama, Hiei and that strange Soul-Eater guy. Hiei kidnapped Keiko and nearly turned her into a demon." Setting down the bottle, Yusuke turned to lean back on one of the poles for the porch railing. "Then Kurama asked to have a few more days so he could use the mirror to save his human mother."

"Yeah, didn't he want to sacrifice his life for hers, and you ended up both giving half your lives to grant the wish."

"Huh… Yeah. I kinda forgot about that." Taking one hand from behind his head, Yusuke made a show of counting on his fingers. "Though, between me being part demon and Kurama being a demon's soul in a human's body; that was a pretty stupid move. That thing couldn't have killed either of us, though Yoko Kurama would have had to find a new human host." Shrugging, He put his hand back with the other, cushioning his head against the pole. "Then there was the Saint Beasts thing, wasn't there?" Grinning, he turned to Kuwabara, "It wasn't like you really had to, but you came anyway to help. Those beast-kabobs were hilarious… and you gave, what's his name? Byakko gas!"

Giving a weary grin, he remembered that mission. It was the first mission that He, Hiei, Kurama and Yusuke teamed up on a mission. "Then it was off to Genkai's contest. I have no clue why you were there, but Shizuru-nee sent me to ask for help after my psychic powers started going out of whack… Though, now that I think about it, I never did get any help from baa-san."

"Get any help for what, gaki?" Aforementioned old woman slid open the paper door, carrying a cup of tea and eyeing the two teens like insects under glass. The woman was old, very old, with pale gray-pink hair to her shoulder blades and standing, at best, three feet high. She wore a red fighting cheongsam, per habit. Though she was no spring chicken, she held her own, and then some.

"Nothing, we were just thinking about if we miss the 'good old days' before demons and demonic hags, _Oban_." Yusuke smirked at his mentor. After winning the contest (unintentionally) to become her next student, he spent the next year under her tortu- tutelage, learning how to control his own powers and learn at least some of her techniques.

Genkai gave her student a dry look and kicked him in the thigh, "Well, this _bitchy old hag_ says to get back to work." By words alone, it seemed that the two hated each other with a passion, but that was the least true statement between them. They were family, seeming like the first real family Yusuke had, despite not being blood related. They would die for each other, which is exactly what Genkai did for her student.

After the year of training, Yusuke, Kuwabara and the others were invited to the Dark Tournament, where they proceeded to be one of the only 'human' teams to make it to the finals. Knowing that her time was at an end, Genkai gave the last of her powers to Yusuke and left to die fighting. During this time, the egg of power that Koenma created during Yusuke's 'death' hatched, revealing his spirit beast, a reflection of his inner soul.

The beast, Kuwabara snickered, the creature that even Koenma feared would be evil and destroy the earth, turned out to be a… blue penguin… with bunny ears and a tuft of unruly black hair. The most lethal this little fluff ball was, was to Yusuke's ego. To top it all off, it was named Puu, and had a tendency to snuggle Keiko relentlessly, despite how much Yusuke protested.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Yusuke sighed, peeling himself from the porch and grabbing the broom that Genkai had provided him with that morning. It looked like a normal bamboo broom, but that thing weighed at least a hundred pounds, just to prove even the most mundane tasks were a form of training. It was funny, seeing a demon lord doing household chores.

"What's so funny, Kazuma-kun?" Genkai asked, leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed, listening to the red-head's quiet snicker.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking about Yusuke, the mighty demon lord, doing household chores." After getting back from the Dark Tournament was the Sensui Incident, as he liked to call it, though most people called it Chapter Black because of that stupid tape that supposedly showed all the horrors that the human world was to blame for. In a temporary lapse in spiritual power, Kuwabara cringed, he was kidnapped by the split-personality psychopath. Though he gained the power to split dimensions with his spirit sword, it also led to Yusuke's second death.

"What, do you want to help him? I'm sure the slacker would appreciate the help."

"No, I'm good." Holding up his hand, he manipulated a small amount of energy into his hand, forming it into a… well, it was _supposed_ to be a sphere. "See, doing my own training."

"Ah," Genkai nodded, eyeing the orange blob hovering above his hand, "trying for a more realistic sword then. Good luck with that." Nodding, Kuwabara let the energy disperse, watching Yusuke as he lost concentration and the broom slipped from his fingers, only to be caught not even a second later.

With his second death, Yusuke's blood changed, reanimating his body and activating his dormant demonic powers. At the same time, it changed Puu into a blue Phoenix, large enough for three people to sit comfortably side-by-side between the massive wings. It was only child's play then to defeat Sensui, though they later found out that he was dying in the first place, and that this was his last big bang before kicking the bucket.

One thing led to another and Yusuke ended up spending the next three years in the demon realm, training to take over his ancestral father's title of lord, including a tournament in a demonic version of democracy, in which the winner would become the top dog of the demon world for the next three years or so.

"Do you regret Yusuke wishing for you to come back to life after the Dark Tournament?" Kuwabara asked quietly, watching Puu swoop down into the courtyard in full phoenix form and knock Yusuke over, snuggling the teen affectionately.

Looking down at the sitting boy, Genkai gave a small shrug. "It was my time to go, but apparently Yusuke still needed someone to be with him." Assured that Yusuke was thoroughly distracted, Genkai let her harsh voice soften with affection for the boy. "I will leave when Yusuke doesn't need me anymore."

"Will you still be here when the next Demon Tournament comes around?" He asked, curious and concerned.

Scoffing, Genkai shook her head. "No, I'm too old for that shit. Something like that's for the young." Eyeing the youth, she smirked, "You planning on winning a demon's contest then?"

"No, I just want to be there to see it and participate. Hell, Urameshi couldn't even get past the first round last time, what chance does a human have?"

Genkai shrugged. "What chance does a _human_ have? If I recall correctly, humans have been on the winning teams of the past Dark Tournaments, who knows what will happen with the Demon Tournaments?"

Nodding, Kuwabara stood up and stretched, towering over the shorter senior. "I guess I'll help Urameshi, since I'll be staying the weekend. It'd only be polite to help with the chores, right?" Genkai nodded, staying on the porch as the gentle giant ambled off, casually picking up the broom that Yusuke left forgotten as he played with his inner beast.

"Who knows, maybe you'll become the strongest one of all." Genkai smiled, slipping back inside.


	52. Welcome Home Kagome

Chapter 52: Welcome Home Kagome

Last time: Hearing the door close, Inuyasha let out a sigh of relief and picked Kagome up bridal style. "About damn time they all left." He growled out. Conveniently Sango and Kazuma had disappeared, supposedly to choose his bedroom. "Your room or mine?" he shook his head, stupid question. "Never mind."

This time: At the top of the main stairs, he carried her to a door at the very end of the hall, revealing another set of stairs that led to a smaller third floor. At the top, Kagome looked around in awe. The rooms downstairs were big, yes, but had nothing on the third story. The ceiling was at least fifteen feet tall near the walls, arching to a good twenty in the center. The right side had a series of four bedrooms, but that wasn't what caught Kagome's attention, it was the glass doors that had green beyond them. "Is this is all…. Yours?"

Chuckling, Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her waist and set his chin on her shoulder. "The whole house and land are mine, but this is my personal living space, yes." Trying to pull her to a bedroom was unsuccessful since she was more interested in the house. The main floor space was separated into roughly four smaller sections with a 'small' kitchen, dining area, sitting area and an area that was dominated with a simply _huge_ flat screen TV, pool table and … an arcade machine.

"Mrs. Pac-man?" Kagome shook her head, not wanting to know. The machine looked like it was an original anyway.

"What? When you find something good, you keep it around. I don't really use this area that much anyway." Steering her to the glass double doors, he opened one for her with a blast of warm, humid air. "Not when I end up here most nights." Stepping into dirt, Kagome gasped. If 'indoors' was huge, then the aviary was enormous. Trees stood tall, hiding the glass walls and ceiling. Carefully tended bushes and vines cast the illusion of being deep in the forest; white pebbles outlined several paths to different locations. A bird called, making Kagome jump and spin toward the sound.

"What was that?"

"That," Inuyasha whistled and held out his arm, "Was either Sora or Aoi." A blue parrot landed on his outstretched arm and gave an affectionate nip. "This one is about thirty years old, and there are around twenty birds in here, last time I counted." Aoi shimmied up his arm to perch on his shoulder as Kagome continued down the biggest path.

"Oh, wow." Moving past the trees, a natural-styled pool with a rocky waterfall revealed itself. "Can I?" She asked, like an excited child, testing the warm water with her bare foot.

"Why are you asking me, I did most of this for you." Launching Aoi off to join her mate, he watched her strip and quickly slid into the warm pool. Her pregnancy was already changing her body, making her even more beautiful in his eyes. Quietly stripping, he slid in behind her, kissing her bare shoulder. "You know, we can easily change the temperature, especially since this is a Jacuzzi."

Kagome smiled, turning in his arms to give him a proper kiss. "Mmm… Maybe later. Right now, it's perfect." Arms looped around his neck, she pulled him down to sit under the waterfall. Smiling, Kagome dipped down for another kiss, straddling his lap. "So… Show and Tell time, or was that already your turn?"

Pulling her closer, Inuyasha kissed over her heart. "I think I could take another turn." Claws drawing circles on her hips, one hand slid up her side to her breast, circling it with a delicate touch. His teeth and lips trailed from her pulse to her other breast, his breath cooling the heated flesh.

Covering a moan with giggles, Kagome threaded her claws through his silver hair, snagging on a black tie. A quick twist sent the elastic flying, setting his hair free. Travelling up, claws found ears and traced the outer edge, sending shivers down his spine. "Okay," Kagome smiled, her head over his, blocking the water. Nipping an ear, her finger tapped his temple. "So, does anything else happen beside you losing your inu-mimi?"

Grinning, Inuyasha held her waist, standing up. "And what," he leaned down for a kiss, "will you do if I don't tell you?" a firm tug on his ancient collar was all the answer he needed.

"I wonder how well this has held up after so long…"

"A one-track mind, I almost forgot about that, wench." Twisting her delicate looking rosary around his finger, Inuyasha grinned, "Now, what was that word again…? Stay?" the beads glowed briefly, highlighting her sly smile.

"Hmm… Didn't you know that the simpler the spell, the easier it is to break?" Her sharp claw slid between two beads, severing the remarkably well-preserved string. "Now, don't make me regret it." One, then two beads fell into the pool, quickly followed by the whole string, sliding off his broad shoulders. Grabbing her up, Inuyasha jumped from the pool. "Wha-what are you doing?"

Grabbing a warm towel from a heated cabinet disguised as a rock, he dropped it on her stomach to use. "Were you thinking that we'd stay out here, wench?" Not waiting for her response, he took the shortest route back to the main room and to the four bedrooms. "Storage, storage, mine and those two's when they visit. That pervert better use one of the other ones tonight." Inuyasha chuckled darkly, shouldering open his bedroom door. Turning red, Kagome pulled the towel over her head.

"I didn't want to think of that."

"Dropping Kagome on the extra-squishy bed, he gently dragged the towel away from her face with an air of reverence, like an archeologist discovering a lost treasure. "What? I'm sure that they know that it's probably not even a good idea to be in this _wing_, let alone across the hall. It could get a bit _noisy_." Capturing her lips, his claws teased up one side, eliciting a loud, high pitched squeal from the girl's mouth. Managing to wriggle out from under her mate, Kagome sprinted for the door, Inuyasha hot on her heels. Slamming the door, her back met the door knob and a 'click' of the lock was the only sound between the two. A feral grin being his only warning, Kagome chased her mate back to the bed, a not-too-gentle shove temporarily forcing him to the bottom.

"What was that for?" he asked between kisses, hands freely roaming her back and sides before flipping her to the bottom.

Claws twisted in his hair, Kagome growled, "I don't trust those 'do not disturb' signs."

"This isn't a hotel, it's a—"

"Safe house for hanyou and half-breeds, I know. The only thing you don't do is charge rent. Now shut up and kiss me." Snorting, Inuyasha did just the opposite, sitting up and grinning at his mate.

"Now, now," Kagome reached up to pull him back down, but he easily pinned both her hands above her head with one of his. "Aren't I supposed to be the impatient one, especially after 500 years?" Growling, her only response was to struggle to free her hands. Her body felt hot, despite the goose bumps from the water drying on her bare skin. It didn't help that his free hand was tracing shapes onto her belly in an almost reverent fashion, making her squirm, wanting to touch back, to move, to do _anything_. He only made it worse, when his lips started chasing those shapes, ending with a lingering kiss over her belly button.

"Mmm… you had a question earlier," Drawing back, Inuyasha caught her look with a half-lidded stare. Releasing the hold on her wrists, his eyes flashed red, signaling his transformation. "Does this answer it?"

Growling, Kagome replied with a fanged grin, sitting up, her hands slid around to his spine, trailing down to a certain new furry appendage. The morning would come all too soon.

* * *

Over the next week, things went as planned, or at least as planned as these things could go, moving houses, preparing for a spirit-type battle, and the frustrating annual dance between Kagome and her brother's guilty conscious.

"Souta," Kagome sighed, cornering her brother in the kitchen and repressing the urge to give the younger boy a hug. "Can we talk, please?" Hands on her hips, she mentally checked on her human illusion, hiding her ears, fangs and claws. The younger boy froze, muscles tense, ready to attempt to flee once again. His hand tightened over the butter knife he was using to make a sandwich as his eyes flicked to the knife stand barely within lunging range. He knew that she could reach him before he could reach the knives with her speed.

"Okay sis," he forced a smile onto his voice and finished cutting his sandwich in half before putting the useless weapon in the sink and turning around. "Do you want half, it's ham." Kagome waved away the offered plate, barely holding her composure. Lately meats just hadn't smelled appealing, especially with her enhanced sense of smell sharper than usual.

"No, thank you, Souta, I'm not really that hungry." She was famished, actually, but her nausea begged to differ.

"Ok, suit yourself." Shrugging, Souta easily hopped up onto the counter and bit into one of his wedges. "Whatcha wanna talk about then, Nee-chan?" He prayed that his voice didn't waver and that the hand casually placed by his plate was now also only a foot away from the knife block wasn't noticed.

Kagome, seeing that her brother wouldn't run, sighed internally and casually leaned against the sink, arms and leg crossed. "Souta, what your father…" Sighing, Kagome looked at her crossed feet, trying to figure out the best way to try again. "Look, you know that not all youkai are bad, right? It all comes down to trusting your instinct and those of the people you trust." Wow, this was different from her usual 'there are no such things as youkai, just like Santa and the Tooth fairy, and Grandpa and your dad are crazy' speech.

"Like, you know that Inuyasha and I would never hurt you, right?" There was a pleading in her eyes, a silent prayer that _his_ brainwashing hadn't taken such deep root this year; that Souta was old enough to not trust everything an adult told him at face value.

Concentrating on his sandwich, Souta didn't see the hurt expression on his sister's face when he didn't respond immediately. "You told me a few times that Inuyasha lost control over himself when he lost Tetsusaiga during battle," Kagome stretched her arm out to hold her brother, but drew back when he flinched. "And then there's you. I haven't seen you completely _wig out,_ but I wouldn't be surprised if something like that did happen eventually." It hurt, but there was no denying her brother's logic. Though, it was that type of fatalistic thinking that nearly got Yusuke killed… a third time, by Enma's guardians.

Sighing, Kagome rubbed her birthmark absently. "I know that this might be hard to believe, but humans can sometimes be the more violent creature. It mostly comes down to our self restraint and training, with both human and youkai. Hanyou… we get the best of both worlds, and the worst. It's true that we have to train harder and learn our restraints younger, but that doesn't mean that we're mindless beasts." Biting her lip, Kagome sensed that their privacy was almost gone. "Just think about it. Inuyasha would miss you hanging around." Giving her brother a small smile, she stood straight and left, seeing what Kuwabara needed her for.

"Hey, how'd it go with your brother?" Kuwabara asked in a low voice, turning to lead Kagome out the back door as she bit her lip.

"It could have gone better," She admitted, stepping out to the back porch where Kuwabara had set up a sort of work station that held all their various trinkets needed for their 'trip'. "Though, he held his ground instead of attempting to run away this year." Sitting down on one of the lounge chairs, she studied one of the scratched out prayer diagrams that Kuwabara had drawn up. "I don't know if I should be worried about how he was eyeing the kitchen knives or not. Another year of Souta going to _that place_ for summer, and I don't know if I would be able to deal with the brainwashing."

"Your brother has a passport, doesn't he?" Kuwabara asked, picking up the mess he had made of the table, "Why not send him with Mother to finish up his training? I'm sure that they would be more than willing to host him for the summer. And besides, it would probably get Mom off my back for at least a little while." Rubbing under his nose, Kuwabara grinned. "I want to see how far I can go on the Demon Tournament next summer. And I have to train for it."

Kagome returned the grin, shaking her head. "Just don't get killed. You're a rabbit walking among wolves going to that."

"It's nothing different from what I've been doing, really. Just a different world." He shrugged, putting aside his papers.

"Now, what did you come get me for?" Kagome asked after a silence.

"Oh!" Leaning forward, Kuwabara tapped the lone piece of paper still on the tabletop. "I wanted you to see the circle that I came up with for us to use. What do you think?" The circle was divided into four sections, the lines curving and flowing into each other. In each section, runes and symbols from several different languages interconnected, forming four similar, but inexact wedges.

Kagome traced a line with her finger, humming. "The power lines are interesting." Squinting to make sure she was reading his scribbles correctly, Kagome looked at Kuwabara for confirmation. "You're going to pull power from me and Yusuke, likely our youki, correct? And use that to maintain our sprit forms, dividing our reiki evenly for the fight, though it'll be mostly you and Yusuke doing the actual fighting because our spirit forms would be virtually useless in offense."

"Umm… Yeah, that's how I drew it up." Kuwabara gulped, sweating under Kagome's dry gaze. "I know that you would want to fight, but you haven't recovered yet. And Keiko-chan doesn't like fighting in the first place. I was thinking," the boy was shrinking back, praying hat he wouldn't get smacked for wanting to save his own hide from Yusuke and Uncle Yasha. "That the best way for you and Keiko to handle things is for you to be backup. You can attack, but it would compromise your defense. At best, I hope that if you two do get injured," 'like last time' was the silent phrase they both tacked onto his explanation, "that the damage would transfer to us instead." Reaching out, Kuwabara touched his fingertips to her stomach briefly, "Please."

Unhappy, Kagome still nodded the go-ahead. She spent too much time in the past being virtually useless, that when she had a chance to make a difference, she was sidelined once again. So far, this pregnancy had the worst timing. "So, when are you starting?"

"Now," he shrugged, checking over his sketch, "the sooner the better, right?"

"Yeah… See you tomorrow sometime, right?"

Kuwabara scowled, "More like tonight. I don't make that many mistakes."

"True, but I don't want any mistakes. It wouldn't be good to play the fixit game in the middle of fighting this guy." Smiling, Kagome attempted to downplay her concern. "Besides, I think I ran out of cosmic duck tape last month."

Standing up, Kuwabara attempted to return the ironic smile and picked up the supplies. "Well, I'm going to go set things up. Everyone staying on property tonight?"

"We should," Kagome stood up as well, intent on going back inside to continue packing. "Keiko said that she needs to cover the restaurant first though. She should get off after the dinner rush."

"Good," He nodded, "should be done by then." His mind was already preparing the ritual area as he waved a quick goodbye before walking to the steps.

Heading back inside, Kagome found Yusuke stacking a box by the door. "Oi, I thought we were done with boxing up my life already!" She called, startling her cousin. Informing him of the night's plan, Yusuke shook his head and popped his spine back into place.

"I thought we were too, but Auntie Gin is taking advantage of the free labor and cleaning out the attic while she can." Yusuke pulled a face, looking up at the ceiling. "I didn't think that this much crap was kept in the actual house."

"Ah, maybe I should go help too while we're waiting." Yusuke's disapproving face turned toward his cousin. "What?" Kagome challenged, hands planted firmly on her hips. "I'm pregnant, not an invalid. I'll just help with the dusting and small stuff like that."

"Whatever," Yusuke rolled his eyes; it wasn't his responsibility to mother hen Kagome into just sitting around all day. Besides, Inuyasha was up there already and did a good enough time clucking for all of them. "Do what you want."

"Thank you, I will." Giving Yusuke a mocking bow, Kagome went up the stairs.

* * *

It was nearly dusk when Kuwabara staggered in, falling onto the couch, exhausted. His eyes had barely closed when the front door slammed open and closed once again. "In here!" He called, dragging himself up, gathering his energy to seem awake.

"What, are you too lazy to even start?" Keiko asked, smoothing out her rumpled work clothes. "Why did I even bother to come tonight then? I'm _not_ spending the night."

"And hello to you too. Could you get the others, they're up in the attic. I'm getting a snack before we start." Weaving his way to the kitchen, Kuwabara made a quick sandwich and met everyone next to the torii about halfway down the shrine steps. "Hey." Kuwabara held up a hand, finishing off his Peanut butter and Jelly, "Ready to start?"

"So you did finish setting everything up already?" Yusuke asked, skeptical, leaning against the far side of the post.

"Yeah, we just need to close the circle and write our names where I tell you and we should be able to start."

"Twilight," Kagome smirked, watching the finishing sunset, "how appropriate, don't you guys think so?"

Yeah, just wonderful." Yusuke rolled his eyes, getting in line between Kagome and Keiko behind Kuwabara. "Let's just _go_ already, this is embarrassing."

"Wait!" Inuyasha, followed by the other 'adults' hurried down the steps to the teens. "What are you doing?"

The quartet blinked, in various stages of touching the one torii pillar. Sighing, Kagome tapped Kuwabara's shoulder, breaking his concentration. "Follow the leader." Yusuke shrugged, not really feeling the point in explaining what was happening to outsiders. Pulling his hand away from the pillar, he drew a small symbol in the air before turning to the others, but keeping his mouth shut.

Seeing everyone turn to her for answers, Kagome sighed and pointed to the post. "This, is a gateway, it leads to a pocket world that is an exact duplicate of this world. In there, we can manipulate things in this world, like, say, moving a rock from A to B, but things from this world cannot affect us. People in this world can't see, hear or touch us either. We're like the wind to anyone that doesn't know what to look for."

"Wee turn into ghosts and our bodies stay hidden." Yusuke shrugged impatiently, eyeing the fading light. "Can we get this over with before I end up tripping over a stupid rock in the dark?"

Kuwabara shrugged, placing his fingers on a certain point on the pole and started walking around it, following a nearly-invisible series of indents. "The dots were once a string of prayer beads that created the spell on this gate. I tried to count them once, but I've never gotten close to counting them all." As he walked around, Kuwabara started fading out of sight until after the third trip around, he faded entirely.

About halfway though Kuwabara's trip, Kagome started trailing the indents as well, their fading forms briefly overlapping before Kuwabara disappeared completely. "If you can, you can come and watch, otherwise, you can walk down the footpath to the clearing. That's where we'll be." Kagome pointed to the hidden trail and a twig bent and snapped, as if someone had walked past it. At that, Kagome disappeared into Yusuke's back and down the trail. Soon enough Keiko was the last one left and faded out with a wink and a reassuring smile.

"Well, that was interesting," Miroku commented, slowly circling the pillar, his hand on this chin but not touching anything, "Do you think it will actually work?"

"Keh, do what you want Monk." Crossing his arms, Inuyasha attempted to disguise the worry lacing his voice and started down the footpath without attempting to use the gate. If he concentrated, he could see their presences faintly, like ghosts marching down the corridor.

"Go ahead Miroku, I'll tell you if it works, but I'll stay out here with Gin and Souta." Sango nodded, scratching Kirara on the chin where she was on her shoulder.

The former Monk nodded, putting his hand where he thought the others had put theirs and started walking around, sometimes feeling the indents, but mostly not. "Is it working?" He asked, brows furrowed in concentration, looking at his seemingly still solid hand. Sango shook her head, watching from where she sat.

"Just go with Inuyasha, Miroku. We can't do anything for them beside pray and hope we don't have to use the medical kit." Gin spoke up from where she was sitting next to Sango. Looking to his wife for one last go-ahead, Miroku followed the path, gave a silent nod to Inuyasha, and sat down to wait. Not exactly seeing the children, it was more like sensing their spirits. He could almost close his eyes and it was almost like seeing them as they did their final preparations.

Inside the pocket world, the four went about lighting candles and incense, brushing away spare debris that the wind had tossed into the circle, and signing their unique symbols in their space. "Everyone ready to go kick demon butt?" Kuwabara asked enthusiastically, stepping into his section and rubbing his hands together.

Stepping into their own wedges, the cousins gave Kuwabara a dry look. "Last chance for a bathroom break, unless you _want_ to piss ya pants!"

"Let's just get this over with." Keiko was last; her defiant body language was betrayed by the slight tremor in her voice. "Unlike most of us, _I_ want to finish my homework before school on Monday."

* * *

I'm so, so sorry for the long break, I really have no excuse… but at least a little good news: I finally have a job! I promise I'll update a lot sooner next time, but with the end so close I can taste it, I'm a little hesitant. I don't want to leave you all!

Dark Inu Fan


	53. Devil Begone

Chapter 53: Devil Begone

Y'all know I don't own Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, no any of the recognizable characters in this lil story of mine by now, right?

Last time: "Let's just get this over with." Keiko was last; her defiant body language was betrayed by the slight tremor in her voice. "Unlike most of us, _I_ want to finish my homework before school on Monday."

This Time: Breathing deeply, Kuwabara closed his eyes, summoning his barrier-splitting sword. As his weapon glowed with an orange flame, so did the circle that they stood in.

Kagome watched in awe until the light grew too bright to keep her eyes open. When next she opened her eyes, she was in the black nothingness of the Middlelands. Far below was the land with the great river to the afterlife splitting through it like a great infected wound. The river ran tainted with innocent blood of the children whose souls had been devoured before reaching their final destination.

"Everyone here now?" Kuwabara asked, drawing his large flame-like wings back from enclosing the others.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Oh my god! The river," Keiko gasped, a hand covering her mouth as she stared at the river far below, "it-it's dying.."

Yusuke nodded grimly, looking anywhere but down. "We should start looking for _him_ now. C'mon." Kagome nodded grimly and jumped from the quickly fading platform that had brought them here. Spreading her black and green wings after her steep dive, she sped just above where the river's spray could reach her.

Looking after his cousin, all Yusuke could murmur was a 'useless' before diving off as well. Moments after, the platform dissolved completely, dropping Keiko briefly until Kuwabara snagged her waist. A moment later, he gave her enough of a toss to instinctively spread her wings. "Better now?" he asked, swooping down to where Keiko hovered. Receiving a nod, Kuwabara returned the gesture. "Then we should hurry up."

Far ahead and below, the cousins looked like large birds flying upstream. Diving, Kuwabara and Keiko easily caught up with the duo. "What's the plan?" Keiko yelled over the rushing wind.

"Find the bastard and kill 'im," Yusuke yelled back, having overheard the question.

Kuwabara rolled his eyes and waved his hand in a placating gesture, "What your boyfriend means is that we find him, Yusuke and I attack while you and Kagome play defense and back us up. Your weapon is long-range anyway, remember?" Keiko nodded grimly, watching the tense form of the only other girl on the team. She had that gleam in her eye that she had seen all too many times on Yusuke and the boys, that determination to win, that battle-lust that all-too-often proved fatal. Honestly, it scared her, wondering if she carried the same look when she thought of the children whose parents would never know what had become of their babies.

"Kuwabara, you feel that?" Yusuke murmured, getting a nod from Keiko and an ear-twitch from Kagome.

"Yeah, that 'im?" Even though they didn't technically need to breathe in this form, Kuwabara's chest tightened to the point that he felt like he had dived too far underwater and had run out of oxygen.

"It's coming from about ten 'o'clock, in those trees over there." Kagome pointed at a copse of trees that seemed to suck the very light out of the air.

"Gee, what gave you that idea?" Keiko rolled her eyes, absently plucking two loose feathers from her wings, transforming them into a crossbow and bolt. Shooting the bolt, it hit and shattered on the barrier that was only visible for a moment as purple energy rippled out from the hit like a pebble dropped into still water.

Immediately after, the Devil roared, rising above the trees to glare at the four birds that would disturb his rest with one icy blue eye.

"Well, too late to sneak in now, huh?" Kagome gave Keiko the stink-eye before collapsing her wings and diving, summoning her sword from a feather.

"Get back here!"

"Kagome, you promised to stay back!" Kuwabara followed Yusuke's dive after his cousin after gesturing Keiko to stay back.

"Hell no, I'm not going to stay back like a sideliner this time!" She pulled up, hovering right above the barrier with Yusuke as he pulled out the twin blade to her own.

Taking a deep breath, Yusuke looked down to the devil, up to Keiko and back. "Fine," he gave Kagome his most serious look, "but the first scratch you get, you're back up there with Keiko." Weapons glowing with power, the twins dived, slashing where Keiko's bolt hit, immediately after, Kuwabara dived, burying his naginata's blade in the middle of the two-toned 'X', shattering the barrier just long enough for Kuwabara to dive straight through and the twins to circle around and follow in after.

"Kagome!"

"Right!" Kuwabara slashed at the Devil's eyes, flames licking its brow with a burst of white light immediately after, blinding the giant with stars; giving Kagome enough time to gather her energy.

Stepping back, Kagome focused her energy, staring at the Devil that had been destroying lives for years, many before their lives could even really begin. The shadow pocked that she needed to create was larger than any she could recall making before. Flying around the perimeter of the shadow pocket, Kagome didn't really need to warn the boys, since they knew and expected what was happening. The shadows bled from each tree, bush and rock, swirling around the Devil's cloven feet.

Yusuke, seeing the living shadows. Added his own light, making the shadows deeper, stronger, as they rose up to slowly enclose and bind the Devil, snarling and straining to break the thing that should not be able to touch him.

"Kuwabara!" Kagome called as her shadows nearly totally engulfed the Devil, except for his protruding gut.

"Going." He absently twirled the naginata into an attack position and dived, slicing the Devil's gut open.

Screaming in pain and anger, the Devil managed to snap the restraints on one arm, swiping at the annoying orange bird. With the spell broken, his other arm was freed to clutch at his wound and to stop it from bleeding out the souls that he had eaten.

"Kagome, are you ok?" Keiko asked, swooping down through the broken barrier to gather the freed souls.

"Yeah, get them out of – Kuwabara, now!" Yusuke swooped down, stinging its hand with the blade of his sword. Kuwabara snuck in, slashing a new gash into the Devil's gut. Hanging back, Keiko realized something: that the Devil was… shrinking. With each soul that managed to escape, the Devil seemed smaller, hopefully weaker.

Try to bind him again!" Keiko yelled, shooting another bolt, this time at its vulnerable eye.

"What do you _think_ I've been trying to do?" Kagome growled back, strained from the recoil of her binding breaking the first time around. Finally gathering enough Shadows, Kagome bound the Devil again, reinforcing the shadows around its arms and claws.

"Why don't you go for his head?" Yusuke asked, getting a look from Kuwabara and Kagome. Kuwabara, who had grown up hearing the stories of Naraku's incarnations, exchanged a look with Kagome.

"The same way that you won't stay dead, baka." Kagome rolled her eyes, tightening the bonds that held the Devil. "Just separating the head and the body won't kill a demon…"

"It has to be weakened enough to destroy at least twenty percent of the body," Kuwabara added, going in for a slice that transected his previous two cuts, the gut bursting and freeing all the souls that had yet to be completely absorbed. The Devil's scream of protest was the perfect accompaniment to his sudden decrease in size.

"Urameshi, wanna do the honors?" The redhead gestured with his naginata at the now-diminutive Devil.

"What?" Yusuke pointed as well, just with his sword, "that thing? I forgot my _bug spray_. Didn't think I needed it."

"Uh, guys?" Keiko landed with the others, having collected all the escaped souls.

"Kags, why don't you do it?"

"Guys…?"

"Heh, you guys wanted me to just stay back and observe, and _now_ you want me to—"

"Ok," Keiko sighed, "fine, be that way—"

"It's nothing like that!" Kuwabara held up his hands.

"We just thought you'd like to be the one to have the final shot!" Yusuke grinned, putting his free hand into a pant pocket.

"—I'll do it!" Keiko growled, being the only one still watching the Devil as it tried to sneak away. She grabbed both swords from the cousins, using one to pin the demon down through the chest and bisected the mouse-sized Devil's head with the other. "There, done!" Keiko huffed, handing the swords back to the cousins and went back to taking tally of the surviving souls.

Silenced by their teammate, the trio of long-term demon fighters followed the 'sideliner' back to the souls. The spirit balls hovered, clustered together in fright, not knowing what was happing and what would happen next. "Put your weapons away already!" Keiko snapped at the boys, having already dissolved her crossbow and was now trying to placate the frightened souls. Touching one, she gave it enough of her life energy for it to regain its humanoid form.

"Mizuki?" Kagome gasped, recognizing the neighbor child.

"Kagome-nee-chan?" the child asked, wiping away pearlescent tears, "I'm scared." Smiling humorlessly, Kagome hugged the frightened spirit, pressing the child's head into her shoulder.

"Ssh, I know Mizuki-chan, we'll get you home really soon, ok?" She whispered, just loud enough for the other spirits to hear as well. As Keiko gave each spirit enough energy for a form, they gathered around Kagome, each wanting to be reassured.

"Kuwabara, are you ready?" Keiko asked, finishing giving each of the twenty or so souls enough energy to animate their bodies when they returned.

"Yeah, think so." Kuwabara finished drawing a simple return circle with Kagome and the souls in the middle.

* * *

"Inuyasha," Miroku poked the half-asleep hanyou, having been startled out of his meditation.

"Yeah, I see it Monk." He had been aware the entire time, smelling more than seeing the four bodies that had collapsed in the clearing. Now, a pinpoint of white light hovered in the middle, swaying slightly in the breeze, seemingly unblinking as living and spirit starting in on a staring contest. Soon enough, the light started to spin, growing outward into a circle of light, of which many orbs of smaller lights burst forth like a firework, flying up into the sky and disappearing.

Back on the ground, the light faded, revealing the four bodies, unconscious, but waking. "Kagome?" a groan was the response as said hanyou rolled over, arm draped over her eyes to block out the real world. Peeking out, Kagome aimed and kicked, catching Yusuke in the ribs.

"…Ow…" Yusuke groaned, actually the first one to manage sitting up.

"Did we get all of them through?" Kuwabara asked, the moment before Yusuke would have dug his heel into the taller boy's, ahem, gut.

"Yeah, made sure of that." Keiko spoke up, not giving any other indication that she was awake.

"Damn, I feel old," Kagome muttered, then started giggling as she finger-waved at her mate, clutching Yusuke's arm to keep her upright. It turned out that they were all tired enough to start laughing, causing Miroku and Inuyasha to share a look that questioned the children's sanity.

".. Lazy-ass gods…" Yusuke muttered when they had finally calmed down. "Why couldn't they just kill the Devil themselves?"

"Because they're _lazy_." Kuwabara was the recipient of a 'duh' glare for that.

"Because gods will not do for you what you can do you yourself." Keiko spoke up like she was giving the answer for 'what is two plus two' or some idiotically simple question.

"In other words, _they're lazy_." Kuwabara sat up, dangling his hands between his knees.

"Yeah, but I like Keiko's response better." Kagome crawled over, pulling Keiko up by her wrist. "Sounds like a valid excuse that way."

"So I take it things were successful?" Miroku spoke up, startling the four. They had honestly forgotten that they weren't alone.

"Yeah." Finally Kagome spoke up, "The Devil that was stealing children's souls wasn't as powerful as they made it out to be." Reaching back, she untangled the ribbon from her hair, fingering the gold embroidery on the black stain background. "There's a reason why children are chosen as guides for the young dead, but it also means that they haven't reached their full potential.

"Children don't know to fear death." Kuwabara shrugged, finding himself the pillar that the other three leaned on. "It's something that's learned as we grow up, that's why they use kids."

"But it also means that kids are weak when it comes to defending their charges."

I wouldn't be surprised it none of the children we rescued respond to summons after this."

"Yeah." Keiko looked down, then back at the others. "They learned of death too soon and must live with it, like we do. Let's go home already." Standing up, she gave a hand each to Yusuke and Kagome.

"Yeah, let's go." Yusuke agreed, standing up and helping Kagome up.

"And tomorrow, we can check on the kids that made it, and pray for the ones we didn't." Kuwabara stood a little wobbly, but not much more so than the others' stances. Leaning on each other, they managed to make it to the shrine steps.

"Stairs…" Keiko's eyes unfocused, staring up the flight it would take to make it up to the shrine and no-doubt a free bed for her. Untangling her limbs from the mutual support of her teammates, Keiko looked at the half-lit sky with a small smile. "At least we didn't take that long. I can actually get a full night's sleep before dawn."

Schooling his amused grimace, Miroku halted Keiko's steps with a polite cough, "Miss Yukimura, forgive me , but that is sun_rise_ not sun_set_. School would be starting in about two hours."

Yeah, that _is_ as full night for Keiko." Yusuke snickered, starting up the stairs.

"And where are you going Yusuke? You _are_ going to school, right?"

"Nope."

"Skipping."

"Sle~ep…" and with that, Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand and trudged up the stairs, one thing on her mind: a soft, warm, fluffy bed with her name embroidered in one corner of the comforter in pink.

* * *

"Ah, Kagome," Gin smiled seeing Kagome and the boys return, "Do you want some breakfast before bed?"

"(Ye~es…) Sorry, Mama, I just want to crash right now." Tugging Inuyasha's hand, she only growled at the stairs for a moment before heading straight for her room.

"Maybe I should just let you sle—"

"No." Kagome growled tiredly, "be my teddy bear?" She simpered, too tired to care that she sounded like a shallow girlfriend. Giving up all sense of protest, Inuyasha hoisted Kagome into his arms and into the mostly-bare bedroom.

Turning away from the scene, Gin squealed in excitement. "They make such a cute couple! Do any of you boys want breakfast, or is it off to bed with you too?"

"Depends. Oden?" Yusuke asked, turning on the cute.

"Not for breakfast, Yusuke, but maybe tonight when everyone wakes up." Gin smiled, not fooled by his cute act for a moment.

Kuwabara didn't even really bother, covering a yawn as he bee lined straight for his futon that was set up in Souta's room.

"May I ask, Higurashi-dono, where my lovely wife has gone to?" Miroku asked, not able to help the flirting tone that had gotten him into trouble more than once.

"She's up in the guest room, but she should be up in a few hours if you want to wait."

Smiling, Miroku shook his head and left as well, content to wait until the others awoke for the day. "Well," Gin chirped, I guess it's just me and…" she looked around the empty kitchen, a small smile on her face as she grabbed her bag and wrote a short note. "Mr. Convenience store bento for breakfast at the park today." And with that she slipped out the door, knowing not that her note slipped off the refrigerator and fell onto the wooden floor:

_Gone Shopping_

_ -Momma._

_

* * *

_

Well, once again, I've proved to myself that I'm horrible at writing fight scenes, which is ok now since this is the last chapter. That's right, folks, after 6 years, I'm finally giving up, poof, done, over with, fin, exit to the left!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Ok… so not quite yet. I do have an epilogue that I have mostly written that I promise _Will_ be Posted _Next Week_… sometime. Independence Day possibly? Depends on how my work schedule goes…

^_^ Don't worry though, I will be coming back though! Just not on this story after next chapter. I have other stories planned and ready to burst into typing any day now… just have to remember what they all are now… So, I'll see you around, right?

Dark Inu Fan


	54. The End and a New Beginning

**The End and a New Beginning**

"Momma, watch me!" a little girl yelled, standing on a ledge in the cliff a good ten feet over the crashing surf.

"Izumi, get down!" a little boy yelled, "Momma, tell Izumi to get down from the cliff!" Kagome looked over the top of her book with a blank look, staring between the two kids.

"'Nagi, shut up!" the girl called down at her twin, sticking her tongue out.

"No, you shut up!" Subconsciously, the boy started climbing to where his sister stood.

"Shippou, do you mind?" Kagome asked, watching the two just about at each others' throats.

"Yes, Momma." Unfolding himself from underneath the tree that he had grown to shade the rest of the beachgoers, he jogged up to the twins on the cliff and climbed up to stand between them. Prying the two apart, he first chucked Izumi into the bay water, then her younger twin, Izanagi. "Cool down, you two!"

"Shippou-ani!" the twins yelled, coming up from their unexpected dive. The redhead grinned, looking down at the two with a mischievous grin. Realizing what that grin meant, the two screamed, swimming towards shore and the 'safety' that their mother provided. Diving, Shippou easily caught up, tugging on frantically kicking feet playfully. Once they reached shore, it turned into a race with Kagome as the finishing line. They didn't even notice that Shippou had stayed in the water, casually swimming along the shoreline.

"Momma!"

"Momma!"

Kagome grinned, able to put her book away before two soaking wet bodies slammed into her. "Aww, did the big, bad fox chase you?" she cooed, suppressing laughter.

"Yeah~"

"And he threw us into the water!" Izumi whined, pushing sodden white locks out of her eyes. Sitting back, she eyed the two; as different as night and day. Izumi (her first by five minutes, the girl was proud to point out every chance she got) had her father's coloring, with white/silver and her own deep blue eyes. Izanagi was as dark as his sister was white, with raven's wing black hair and eyes so bright gold they seemed yellow at times. Strangely, though, he had one spot over his right eye that was naturally white, and had been so since his hair had grown out enough to be seen. Where Izumi was adventurous to the point of almost being reckless (Kagome blamed Yusuke's influence in that), she was tempered by her brother's caution, sometimes needing that push to do something more than his lessons.

Both were smart, much to Kagome's delight, able to understand things that even she had difficulties with at times. "Well, what do you want me to do about it then?" Kagome asked and the twins shared a silent look, fidgeting, unsure what to do.

"Tell him to stop?" Izumi suggested, grabbing her brother's hand.

"Yeah…"

"Ok," Kagome nodded, looking over to where Shippou still swam casually, "Shippou, can you go up to the house and check if everything's ready?"

"Ok Momma," Shippou grinned, standing up from the shallow water and walking back to where he had tossed his beach shirt and towel. Shrinking back to the form that most knew as Kurama: tall, long red hair and an almost feminine features. Toweling off, he pulled his yellow beach shirt back on, Smirking, he feinted an attack at the twins, which earned him an excited squeal and a light smack from their mother.

"Go already." Grinning openly, Kurama gave his adoptive mother a graceful bow and walked off, up the path and through the tunnel back to the house.

"Almost ready for the party?" Kagome asked cheerily, an arm around each twin. They nodded, bouncing from excitement. "Good, then go get toweled off and dressed, then we can go!"

"Yay!" they cheered, racing across the beach to the changing rack and their towels.

By the time Kagome gathered her beach bag and towel, the twins were ready, sandy shoes and dripping shirts included. Shaking her head, Kagome turned them both around with a pat to the shoulder each. "Try again, and this time dry off before getting dressed."

"Yes Momma." 'Nagi murmured, dragging his sister off for round two with the towels, this time to let the fluffy (and now sandy) cloth win.

Up at the house, Kurama found Inuyasha at the top of a ladder, fighting some helium balloons into submission. "Old man! We about ready for the guests of honor to show up?" He called, holding the base of the ladder steady.

"What do you think, pup?" Inuyasha called back down, holding some balloon ribbons in his mouth as he tried to pin more to the wall. The parlor was a mess: rolls of streamers were half-unwound, lying across the couch. Deflated helium balloons remained where they landed as they were either popped by careless claws or slipped out of clumsy fingers. The buffet table was bare, except for the cake that was still receiving some last-minute decorations, meaning there was frosting where it was not meant to be (mainly the lace tablecloth under the cake).

"OK, running interference then!" Kurama chirped, leaving the room and shutting the doors behind him.

"And get back to help when you're done!" Inuyasha yelled through the door.

At the Back door, Kurama waved from where he sat on the porch railing. Jumping down when the trio got closer, "Hey you two," he smiled, pinching a sodden shirt. "Why don't you head upstairs and take a bath to get all that sand off. I would hope that you'd both want to look nice when Grandma Gin comes, right?"

"Gran-Gin's coming?" Izumi squealed, running into the house and thundering up the stairs, pulling her poor brother along behind her.

"How's it looking?" Kagome asked, watching the two disappear into the house.

"At the moment?" Kurama gave his adopted mother a sideways look, "Inuyasha's trying to hang balloons, the boys are in the middle of a streamer fight, and Miroku managed to get frosting everywhere _but_ the cake." Kagome nodded, it sounded about right, what with the twins' birthday turning into the unofficial yearly reunion between anyone that was _there_, or related to them. Surprisingly, it was Inuyasha that insisted on going all-out for parties. If it was Kagome's choice, the entire party would be family and the twins' friend with a few activities and cake. She shrugged it off as growing up differently. Her with the close-knit group of family and friends, and him growing up in a castle. Inuyasha may have ended up living in the forests, but while his mother still lived he was a prince, as she was a princess, and attended the appropriate celebrations.

"Off you go then, you were swimming too." Kagome gave Kurama a small push. "Take a shower and then help your father with decorating. I'll go check on the twins and make sure they haven't flooded the bathroom again." With that, they headed off to separate wings, Kagome to the third floor suite and Kurama off to the room he kept his extra clothes and overnight bag in.

It was amazing, six years ago the journey ended, the well sealed up and Naraku was defeated. Six years ago, Kagome thought that she would never see her mate again. She never thought that the quest for the jewel would end, that the close kinship would last beyond the defeat of the re-born hanyou. Her wildest dreams never even dreamed that the jewel would practically grant her friends immortality, that it would split the world, granting Humans and Demons their own territories. If she were to be honest, she didn't know what would happen when the quest finished, if the quest ever finished.

Mentally going over the guest list, she realized that the line between family and friends tended to blur over time if one looked too closely. Shiori, the little bat hanyou that they had saved once, had matured into a beautiful woman in the past 500 years, learning a spell around 25 year ago to turn her fully human when she fell in love with a human male. Together they had a son with red hair and intelligent green eyes. Interestingly enough, neither had either trait anywhere in their bloodlines. They named the boy Suiichi.

Around that time, a Kitsune with a silver coloring allowed himself to be killed while mourning the loss of his closest friend—a bat hanyou. All Kagome could think was that he was attracted by the available empty container and the sealed demon blood that could hold his until he was ready.

It was sometime before last year's reunion when he told her, though not really by choice. As she was told, Shiori always thought that something was different with her son, especially since he was fourteen or so. She thought that it was a long-term girlfriend until the first time he disappeared for several weeks at a time. Then there were the scars and old injuries she saw on his torso one morning when she came in to wake him up. He seemed almost stoic as a child, but she couldn't really peg him as a fighter.

One day, she asked if he could introduce his girlfriend to her, and the boy had the strangest expression on his face. _"Suiichi, do you have a… boyfriend? Is that why you haven't introduced us? You know I don't care if you're gay, as long as-"_

"_Mother!" Kurama covered his eyes, willing his blush away. "I'm not in any relationship, male or female. I… have a part-time job." _Shiori didn't quite believe him, at least not about the part-time job part. A part-time job wouldn't consume his whole being as whatever this was had. A part-time job wouldn't keep him away for days, weeks, at a time with no chance for even a phone call. Shiori shook her head.

_I wouldn't call working with Yomi-sama a part-time job, Suiichi." If Kurama was drinking anything, he would have spit it out, but as it was, his bum suddenly became intimate with the carpet._

"_I-I don't know what you're talking about." Kurama, a master of deception, had always had issues when it came to lying to this woman that gave birth to his human form. Looking away, he asked what all she knew, _how_ she knew. She smiled, telling him about the little fox boy that was with the hanyou that saved her from her grandfather. About the stories she heard in the safe house she would visit the next few hundred years, about the fox child grown up and learning to steal and trick those around him. She told him of how the master of the safe house mourned when he heard that the fox boy had died. And finally, she told him of his own birth, how small he was, and how strange that the baby's head sported red peach fuzz and its eyes were an intelligent green that so reminded her of a little fox she once knew many, many years ago._

_Kurama grew quiet, not knowing what to say, what to do. Should he apologize for possessing her son's body, should he ask permission now that he knew she knew about his activities? Should he leave, never to make contact with her again. "I'm sor-"_

"_I know what you're going to say, and don't." Shiori raised her hand to cease his protests. "You're just as much my son as you're anyone else's. Just," she cupped his cheek, wiping away tears with her other hand, "Just don't forget me and come home, to this home, some time, ok? I love you, son, whether you're a 500 year old fox or a 21-year-old boy. And nothing will change that, ever."_

_Kurama bowed his head. "Th-thank you… Mother."_

"_Just one question though," Shiori gave a wry smile. "What should I call you?"_

"_Suiichi's fine, Mother, but most people call me Kurama now."_

"_Kurama," She nodded, tasting how the name sounded to her lips, "that helps. It was confusing, calling one of you boys when you both had the same name."_

Someone knocked on the front door, startling her out of her reverie. With as many hanyou and others coming and going at all times of the day and night, most didn't even bother knocking, just coming in and signing themselves into a room. Around dawn and dusk someone would watch from a chair, just in case, but this system worked mostly without incident. "Ah, Shiori, you're here!" Kagome smiled at the older woman holding a pair of small boxes. "You're the first one to show, so the room's still a bit messy."

"That's alright." Shiori gave the younger hanyou a hug, a box in each hand. "Where's Kurama? And the twins?" she asked, handing Kagome the boxes.

"Kurama is taking a shower and then will help Inuyasha with the banner or something. And the twins," Kagome gave something between a smile and a grimace, "should be taking a bath. We were all down at the beach earlier and the kids went swimming." Even though Kurama was technically older, he would always be 'one of the kids.'

"Ah, should I go in and help then?" They peeked into the room, not really believing that it would be clean by the time the next hour rolled around.

"If you want." Kagome shrugged, putting Shiori's presents on the table piled with other gifts. Nodding at her hostess, Shiori rolled up her sleeves, revealing ancient scars, and grabbed a washcloth. Starting at one end of the buffet tables, she zeroed in on the frosting-being formally known as Miroku.

"Miroku-sama, are you getting anything on the cake?" she asked, swiping at his frosting-encrusted cheek while dodging a pink streamer someone had badly aimed.

"I'm getting there." Miroku shrugged, stepping away to refill his piping bag. Despite the surrounding area being a disaster area, the cake itself was gorgeous. Various scenes wound around the tiers, while sugar-sculpted cartoon characters danced on a fondant path. Off to the side, six green and six yellow candles waited to be placed at the last possible moment.

"If I may ask, where's your wife?" Miroku grinned, using a toothpick to fix a stray piece of frosting.

"Last time I checked, she was in the dojo with Souta-kun, setting up games for later." Shiori nodded, rinsing out her towel and returning shortly.

"I would have thought the boys would be doing that." Miroku shook his head and grimaced as a purple streamer clocked him in the back of the head. Looking around, he saw his youngest's guilty face, quickly hiding the roll in his hand behind his back.

"They were going to," Miroku had softly put down his piping bag and slowly picked up the thrown roll, pretending to be old and haggard, "but decorating," throwing the roll, Miroku managed to bean Inuyasha in the back of the head, causing him to lose grip on the balloon he was filling. The projectile spun wildly out of control and managed to land right on Sesshoumaru's head as he entered the double doors. "Seems more their speed." Miroku tried not to snicker at the death glare Sesshoumaru sent Inuyasha's way, plucking the pink balloon out of his hair.

"Nice shot." Shiori giggled, as the glare was reflected over to the boys.

"I try." Miroku smirked, his clean hand resting between Shiori's shoulders. "Now, let's go see how my dear wife is doing before things start getting messy."

* * *

"_You can Da-ance, you can Ji-ive, having the Time of your Li-i-ife_!" Sango's voice was heard before they even got to the dojo doors, singing along with some old American music that she had never quite gotten over as the decades rolled by. She didn't hear the door slide open, nor the startled gasp that Shiori gave as she saw the room.

Practically finished setting up the stations, Sango was dancing around with the limbo pole, her tank top riding up and revealing skintight daisy dukes with an upside-down hand print over one butt cheek. On the other pocket it said 'Property of Miroku' in glittery fabric paint. Grinning, Miroku smoothly replaced the pole with his body with the ease of decades of practice. Singing the next line intentionally off-key, Miroku spun his wife and finished by planting a wet one on her lips. By the end of the song, they had greeted each other as if they had been separated by years, not mere minutes. "Almost done in here?" he asked, still holding her close.

"Yeah, what about you?" Sango asked, trying to bite down her laughter as Miroku spun her again just for the heck of it.

"Hot food's in the oven, cold food's in the fridge and the cake's decorated." Miroku bent down and planted another slow kiss. "And the guests are starting to arrive."

Waving meekly, Shiori caught Sango's attention and she immediately pulled out of her mate's embrace."_Miroku_!" she hissed, pulling down her tank top as far as it would go. "Shiori! I'm so glad you could make it!" Hugging the bat, Sango hid her flush of embarrassment. "Are you looking forward to seeing everyone again?" Stepping back, Sango gave the… well, she couldn't exactly call her a girl anymore… Woman a fond look. "Well, since everyone's starting to show up. I guess I should go get dressed. I hope you have fun tonight, ok?" Putting the limbo pole away, Sango pulled her husband along with her. "C'mon monk, you have frosting all over your shirt too."

Watching the couple leave with a fond look, Shiori sighed and went back to the chaos that was the parlor. In all the time that she had known the couple, one thing was for certain: they were two halves of a whole and wouldn't be able to leave each other even if they tried. But after this long, even that was unlikely.

* * *

"Urameshi, over here!" as soon as the shorter boy turned his head, Kuwabara threw his streamer as hard as possible, trying to bean him. Quick reflexes returned the fire, but where Kuwabara missed, Yusuke hid dead center. Laughing, Yusuke threw a peace sign and ducked behind a couch to avoid a spray of silly string.

Giving the boys a look, Inuyasha finally pinned the last balloon in place and moved his ladder to start pinning the criss-cross of streamers on the floor to the ceiling and walls. Now, if only the boys could do this _themselves_, everything would be ready on time. As if hearing his thoughts, Kurama came in, damp hair from his shower, adjusting the cuffs on his teal cheongsam with green leaves and matching green shirt and pants underneath. Without saying a word, he nodded to Sesshoumaru and picked up a streamer, handing it to Inuyasha.

"Do you think you can do something about the monkeys?" Inuyasha asked, taking the streamer Kurama handed him gratefully.

Kurama shrugged, catching another flyaway roll of streamers in mid-air. "I'll think of something." The Past couple of years, the boys had gone their separate ways for the most part, but at least trying to meet up every couple of months. Yusuke continued to somewhat-rule his father's territory. Kurama continued helping in Yomi's territory and Hiei continued to patrol the now-nonexistent barrier territory. Kuwabara, despite everyone's concern, competed in a few of the demon tournaments. After being defeated his first time around, he was steadily moving up the ranks and gaining a reputation at the same time. Kurama still snickered about the first time he had heard a certain rumor, saying that Kuwabara was a demon in disguise; that no normal human could do some of the things that he did.

He did agree with at east part of the rumor—that he was definitely not a normal human. But then again, neither were his parents, with a demon-slyer for a mother and a monk for a father, and growing up competing with demons, it was surprising that more of their children didn't hit the power jackpot.

"Kazuma, could you please help here?" Kurama asked, holding up a streamer with a pointed look.

"Oh, yeah, right." Kuwabara blushed, picking up some criss-crossed streamers and threaded them onto a tack. Then, using his spirit sword, he pushed the tack into the ceiling tile until it stuck. "Guess we should start getting ready, huh?" Looking around, he noticed that a few early guests had started drifting in and helping with the finishing details. Including setting food onto the buffet table according to Kagome's instructions when she popped in briefly to see how much longer she should delay the twins.

"Oh, ah, Mother, You're here!" Kurama exclaimed, spotting Shiori with a dishtowel, helping Miroku de-frost the table under the cake. He smiled, gently trying to take the towel away. "Why don't you go around and say hi to everyone?"

Holding on to the towel with a surprisingly subtle (strong) grip, Shiori smiled at her son. "Kurama-kun, I have more than enough time for that during the party, but for now let me help so that everything will be ready when the rest of the guests arrive." Blinking, he gave in with a sigh. If nothing else, he learned when to fight and when to say 'yes Momma' and give in. This was one of those times.

As everyone started to drift in, preparations were finally finished and the hosts changed into nicer clothes. Those that had traditional clothes from their time in the feudal era wore them, while the younger generation (including Kagome) wore something a little more modern. Kagome wore a sundress while Inuyasha wore his firerat robe. Miroku, surprisingly, felt more comfortable in black slacks and a purple collared top than his traditional monks' robe. He actually hadn't really played the role of a holy man for the past three-hundred years, but more of an exorcist and psychic.

Sango also went the non-traditional route with a pseudo-kimono top and skinny jeans. In their travels around the world, Sango had tried many different careers, including a stint as a fashion designer and actress back in the 1970's.

Their kids were modern in almost every sense, with Shizuru in Jeans and a flannel shirt (Sango put her foot down on her smoking—a least at the refugee) and Kuwabara in his white trench. He was bare-chested except for a torso wrap, showing the corner of a tattoo that he had gotten after his first demon tournament. It had started as a simple tree of life, but seemed to grow after every tournament, with vines starting to crawl across his shoulder and down his pecs. Then again, the thing _could_ be alive since the artist lived in the demon world. The best trait, however, was that it would lighten or darken at will, nearly disappearing if he wished it to.

Kurama and Hiei didn't really change much, especially Hiei. He wore the same black robe and pants as always. And if not for Kurama and his promise (bribe) of Sweet Snow (ice cream), he wouldn't have even thought to come. As it was, he was standing in the darkest corner he could find, arms crossed, glaring at anyone who even _dared_ to look his way.

Sesshoumaru (In Armani) was standing next to Koga (he might as well be the cover model for biker clothes) and his family. Poor Hojo, he was Koga's youngest descendant, but he still carried a torch for his longtime classmate. Coming to the yearly meet-n-greets could be likened to torture if he was any other person.

Souta, on the other hand, relished these meetings. He had grown into an observant young man, but no less excitable if the conversation turned to a subject he agreed with. At the moment though, he was nursing a root beer float, sitting in one of the huge bay windows. Wearing his high school uniform, he had the black jacked piled beside him with his white undershirt undone, revealing a red tee with a hand painted collar that looked suspiciously like Inuyasha's old necklace. Tucked into his belt was a chain-sickle eerily similar to what Kohaku used to use. His eyes searched the room passively, waiting for a particular guest to arrive.

Finally, the double doors opened, revealing the twins - holding hands- and their mother. The rumble in the room slowly died down until they held everyone's attention. Kagome slipped around to stand next to her husband as the twins took two steps forward and bowed. "Thank you for coming." They intoned in unison, sending shivers up some of the guests' spines. "We hope that you enjoy your visit." Bowing again, they broke the tension by grabbing their friends and pulling them to the game room.

"I hate when you do that." A small blonde shivered.

"Yeah, wa-ay too creepy." A taller boy agreed, letting himself be dragged to the game room with the others. No way had they wanted to stay in the room full of creepy adults. The twins gave each other a sidelong look and grinned. That was exactly _why_ they did it.

The adults had finally gotten back to visiting when a teenage form peered around the open double doors. Slipping inside, Koenma slid around the perimeter of the room until he was sure that he wouldn't be called on for being late. "Koenma." A deep rumble behind him stopped his heart. "Wish to tell me why you are late?"

"Fa-Father!" Koenma yelped, turning around and bowing to the imposing figure of Sesshoumaru. Who was known better as Enma these days. "I…" he had no excuse. "I was reviewing candidates for my new team of spirit detectives."

Nodding, Sesshoumaru looked around, seeing a certain teenager watching the two 'gods.' "Good. And how are the candidates looking?" Silently, he started moving toward that direction. "Anyone in particular standing out?"

"Not especially. There is one boy, yes, but two of his family has already served… and there is the matter of heritage… and temperament."

Sesshoumaru gave his son a mild look, "I would believe that after picking Urameshi off the streets, you would _jump_ at the chance of another miscreant. You seem to be fond of potentially bad eggs." Cringing, Koenma nodded, remembering a few of his past choices. "Though, I have to admit that your last batch turned out… acceptable." Nearing Souta's window, Sesshoumaru turned to face his son. "And with your recent success, I would highly recommend a certain human, despite one already serving your detectives. Souta-kun, would you come here please?" Sesshoumaru raised his voice enough for the human to hear over the din.

Snapping his head around, Souta languidly unfolded, standing up and putting his jacket back on, giving himself time to calm his nerves. "Yes, brother-in-law?" Souta greeted, giving the much older demon a bow.

Putting a hand on Souta's shoulder, Sesshoumaru turned back to his son. "This is Souta Higurashi, brother to my Kagome and cousin to your Urameshi. I believe he wishes to speak with you about the new team you're forming."

"Yes Father." Koenma and Souta watched Sesshoumaru walk off before turning back to each other. Koenma gestured back to the window bench seat. "You know, most people, especially human, would do anything to _not_ be selected for the spirit detectives."

"I'm not exactly _most_ people, Koenma-sama." Souta smiled with a glint that reminded him of a certain fox.

"You're bored." That didn't even need a response. Despite the barrier being open, he wasn't allowed into the demon world without an escort and the demons that did make trouble in the human world were caught by their fellow demons before most humans could sense anything off. "That can be bad for a boy of your… pedigree."

"I've heard something like that, yes."

"You know that this isn't the safest job out there."

"Yes."

"And that your family would probably kill me if anything were to happen to you…"

"Yeah."

"so… Why?"

"Why not?" came Souta's immediate response, then frowned, thinking it over. "I mean, I'm not exactly normal, so I can't completely fit in with most humans, but I don't have enough demon blood in me to even be considered welcome."

"But Kuwabara is—"

"An exception to the rule, I know. Heh, I've been trained in the Taijiya arts since I could walk. Trained in the holy arts since I can remember and nearly all my friends and/or relatives are at least quarter demon! I lost the chance to be normal when my sister was pulled down that well." He wasn't exactly upset, but more like stating a fact. "I just want to do more than protect a broken-down shrine with a decaying time-well and an ageless tree."

Koenma nodded, imagining just how dull it could be, what with the powerful barrier already in place and not many even knowing (or sensing) the powerful artifacts hidden within its doors. "So you want an adventure?"

Souta shrugged. "I want someplace where I'm not the weird one. I just want a place to belong." Souta looked contemplative, then snapped out of it, startling himself. "Of course I'd work hard, Koenma-sama. I don't want you to choose me just because of who I'm related to. I mean, I…"

Koenma held up a hand, trying to keep a straight face. "I was actually looking at your file before this. We don't usually like to take more than one person in a family, but this time will be an exception. You come with very high recommendations and your enthusiasm for the job is… refreshing, to say the least." Koenma just prayed that Souta's excitement wouldn't boil over until he was done speaking. "And with saying that, will you help me pick out the rest of your teammates?"

"So... That's a yes?" Souta was practically vibrating with excitement.

"Yes, Souta Higurashi, you are hereby a spirit detective." Spirits across Reikai probably heard him with how loud he hollered.

"Kagome! Mom!"

"Yes we, _ack!_ Heard." Kagome laughed as she was picked up by the waist and spun. The boy was acting like he had won the Christmas jackpot with how he was carrying on. Then again, nearly everyone there knew what would happen anyway. Those that weren't downright happy for the boy at least had a tolerant smile. It was inevitable, that the boy would find something that fell under 'not normal' eventually. At least with being under the guardianship of Koenma, he had at least a slightly better chance at survival.

"Now, your first assignment…" Koenma rolled his eyes at Souta's current-lack-of attention. "_Your first assignment_" Startled, he snapped to attention, hands clasped behind his back. Koenma tried and failed to hide a smirk. He liked this kid's reactions. "… Is to be social. It's more than likely you'll end up having to deal with one or more of these demons in the near future. _And its better to be on their good side when you have to deliver some less-than-savory news_." Koenma whispered with a wink, looking at some of the more temperamental guests that had sent his messengers back _in pieces_ or not at all and prayed that Souta would last longer than they had.

"Right." Souta gave Koenma a look that screamed distaste, but nodded anyway. "See you around then." Waving, Souta gathered up Kilala and disappeared into the crowd, hopefully to schmooze and not find another corner to sulk in.

"Not exactly the life of adventure he was dreaming of." Yusuke sidled up to the Reikai prince, "Hey Koenma."

"Yusuke." Koenma shook his head. "He'll get to it soon enough. You didn't exactly jump straight into the dark tournament yourself. Then again," Koenma got a look in his eye, "the boy has had years more formal training than you every started with!"

Yusuke nodded in agreement, shocking Koenma. "He has the skill, and the potential, to thrive on the type of work you give people." Yusuke shrugged. "He could be one of the few that actually stay with you for more than a few years."

"We'll see. The boy does have his own plans, after all." A man walked up, scars visible on his hands and face. Alas, with every party guest invited, there had to be at least one crasher. Absently, he rubbed one scar on the side of his neck. "Just make sure he doesn't turn on you when he starts questioning his superiors."

"Uncle K." Yusuke gave Souta's father a curt nod.

"Mutt." He barely acknowledged his nephew before turning back to the demi-god. "The boy can, and will, try to destroy you if he is persuaded to. Watch your neck." Koenma gave a grim nod as the man walked away. The summer five years ago when Souta was to go with his father, he was given the opportunity to train with Sango. It turned into the final straw between the prejudiced Taijiya and those that fought for demon/human equality. It all came to a head at midsummer and during the battle, a surprising amount of Taijiya came out as pro-youkai. A leader without a following was only a menace to those around him. Luckily, he never attempted to speak to Souta in person since his neck healed.

A whistle pierced the din, drawing attention to Kagome by the tables. "In about five minutes, we're going to have cake and presents, so could we all find a seat to get this party started?" A smattering of applause and a shuffling toward couches and folding chairs was her response. Shortly, Kagome herded the kids into the parlor from the dojo, surrounding the cake table. The candles were lit, the song was sung and a round of applause and laughter when he twins smeared icing in each others' faces. Presents were opened and children played, and eventually, when the party wound down, promises were made to stay safe and at least come to next year's party.

At last, Kagome stood up and called for attention. "Thank you very much for coming with me on this journey of life. We had difficult times and wonderful times this past six years and I hope to see you all next year."

Standing up, Inuyasha stood next to his mate and took her hand. "More like five hundred years, love." He gently corrected her and kissed her knuckles. "But either way, thank you all for sticking with us this long. We've experienced each others' pain, pleasure, love and loss. Watching each other grow and grow wiser, gain new friends and lose some old ones." He paused briefly, remembering old Myoga, who had finally passed last year and Kagome's grandfather the year before.

"And as we part for another year," Kagome took another turn, "We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and wish you health and happiness

* * *

There we go, I think Inuyasha and Kagome said what I very nearly couldn't: Thank you so much for sticking with me for the past six years, and thank you for my newer fans, who decided to read these past 50 chapters in (mostly, from what I heard) one go. I was planning on naming every single reviewer that ever lifted my spirits these past 6 or so years, but A) you've waited long enough (Sorry about that, I have some… unexpected visitors this summer that seriously cut into my computer time) and B) Who in their right mind would actually read a page or two list of just names?

Good Night, Sweet Dreams and Never stop your Imagination from Running Wild!

Dark (mousy) Inu(yasha) Fan(girl)

Oh, and one more thing: I'm not going to write a sequel to this story, no matter how you beg or plead. Though... if you want to write something about Souta or the Twins, or anybody really, just please tell me and send me a link whenever you put it online!


End file.
